Test driving is one of the most important parts of any car buying process. That is the same whether you buy directly from a dealer or work with car brokers. It is the only way of seeing if a car, used or new, performs properly. Also, you will get driving experience from the vehicle.
Despite the test drives only lasting for roughly 15 minutes, it is vital that you have insurance to drive in the first place. We are going to discuss how the system works in the UK. Also, we will offer advice on inspecting and establishing cover.
UK insurance requirements
Firstly, insurance policies are linked to separate motors. Thus, insurance is only on the vehicle you own and/or keep. As a result, you might not have coverage to drive anything else.
Continuous insurance is another important detail here. Every car driven in the UK must be insured under legislation called Continuous Insurance Enforcement. This originated in 2011 due to the high quantity of uninsured motors on the road. These led to increasing insurance premiums that paid for uninsured accidents.
Then there are in trade and off road vehicles. The only scenarios where cars don’t need insurance is when there are formal notifications to the DVLA that confirm they aren’t in use. Firstly, a car can be with dealers ready to sell or go to auction. Or, a vehicle could be off the road and not being driven. In the latter case, you need a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN). Talk to us if you want to know more about car brokers.
The dangers of test driving with no insurance
The dangers here are the same as those where you drive any car without insurance. There will be six penalty points on your license and a £300 fine. Should the case go to court, you could face a driving ban and an even bigger fine.
As for how you should approach insurance cover for test drives, you should check your policy. Certain fully comprehensive insurance policies offer Drive Other Car (DOC) cover. This would mean that you have insurance to do test drives already. Although, DOC normally only supplies third party cover. If so, it is only going to pay for damage to other motors but not the car you test drive. With most policies now, DOC is rather rare.
Does the retailer have cover?
If you’re purchasing from a retailer, ensure they have cover in place. By default, most retailers will have set up extended cover that enables customers to take their vehicles out for test drives.
The Motor Insurance Bureau’s (MIB) AskMID database offers a free tool to confirm if a car has insurance or not. As it says in its terms & conditions though, it is only the vehicle’s insurer, owner, or keeper that needs to check. It should not be a potential buyer doing it.
Temporary cover
If you lack cover, you can get temporary insurance. Do this with your own insurer or another provider. It tends to be cheap and will usually offer you fully comprehensive cover to drive other motors for a certain time period. After you shortlist the cars you want to buy, you can work to test them all in the time.
Learn from our successful team of car brokers
At Auto Car Brokers, we offer a great way for people to start broking. What we have done is created our Car Broker Business Package. It has various modules to cover the essentials of this industry, including a business manual, forms pack, email templates, and more. It compiles our experience into a neat bundle for you.
So, if you’re interested in discovering more about car brokers, feel free to browse our website or speak to us. We are always happy to help people get their start in the industry.
