DOC Insurance

Compare Car insurance to drive other cars

Unless you’re a teenager or a first time driver, there’s a good chance you’ll already be well aware of the fact that you have three levels of coverage to choose from when you’re taking out a new car insurance policy: third party only, third party, fire and theft or fully comprehensive. 

Something fewer drivers might not be fully aware of is the fact that many insurance providers have begun changing their fully-comprehensive policies in recent years in order to remove the third-party only cover many of these policies used to provide as standard when you were driving other cars.

Of course, it is still possible to find fully comprehensive insurance that includes driving other cars, but you shouldn’t assume that all fully-comp policies include this as standard nowadays because many of them don’t. 

The best plan is to compare fully comprehensive policies from a wide range of providers, and then look at what’s included with each policy to find ones that automatically cover you to drive other cars. 

Compare driving other cars insurance now

Why have insurance providers removed the driving other cars cover from their fully-comp policies?

Firstly, it’s important to bear in mind that not every provider has removed the ‘driving other cars’ component from their standard fully-comp policies, and if you shop around it’s usually still possible to find a suitable fully comprehensive car insurance policy with driving other cars cover included.

With providers that are removing this standard policy feature there could be several different reasons why they’ve decided to take this approach. The three most likely explanations are:

• Improving the insurer’s level of risk exposure
• Enabling the insurer to offer policyholders cheaper premiums
• Enabling the insurer to sell ‘driving other cars cover’ as an optional add-on, rather than offering it as standard.

I always assumed fully comprehensive car insurance policies always covered policyholders to drive other cars – when did this change?

It is true that in the past the vast majority of fully comprehensive insurance policies automatically included third party only cover for driving other cars, but as the motor insurance market has become increasingly competitive more and more insurance providers are removing that standard policy feature.

If a motorist gets behind the wheel of another car on the mistaken assumption that their fully comprehensive policy includes driving other cars cover then they would be driving without insurance, which means they could face an unlimited fine and the loss of their driving licence if they got caught.

How will I know if my car insurance policy includes driving other cars cover?

The first consideration is whether or not you have fully comprehensive insurance, because it is only ever fully comprehensive insurance driving other cars cover comes with as standard.

However, if you do have a fully comprehensive insurance policy it’s vital that you double check whether this includes cover to drive other cars, and you can do this by reviewing the policy documents you received when you signed up for the policy.

Is it possible to add ‘driving other cars cover’ to a third party only insurance policy?

While driving other cars cover is never included as standard when you take out a third party only policy, some providers might allow you to add coverage for driving other cars as an optional add-on.

However, if you’re willing to pay more for your insurance, it might be more cost effective to opt for a fully comprehensive insurance policy (even if it doesn’t include driving other cars cover) than paying to add optional extras to a third party policy.