With rising fuel costs and a dwindling economy, owning a car is an expensive business. Often this means that one car is shared between several members of a family or household, meaning the costs are split. Each person doesn't need their own car insurance policy; if you have comprehensive cover often your policy will cover anyone who drives your car with your permission. These drivers are called ‘unnamed drivers'.
If you have third party cover though, you will usually have to add each driver to your policy. The main driver is the policyholder, and additional drivers are called 'named drivers'. You can add up to four additional drivers per policy. Anyone with a valid driving license can be a named driver on your insurance policy: a spouse, a flatmate, a co-worker for carpooling.
The cost of adding additional drivers to your policy is related to the risk of an accident occurring. Adding a young driver is likely to increase premiums, as statistically young drivers are more likely to be involved in an accident. Adding an experienced driver may actually decrease your premiums, which is convenient for young drivers who want to add their parents to their policy.
It's important to be honest though. If the insurance company discovers that the policyholder is not the main, regular driver of the car, they may invalidate or cancel your policy. This is called ‘fronting' and may cause you to lose out when you need to make a claim.
If you only need to add an additional driver for a short period of time, most insurers allow you to temporarily add them to your policy. For this you will have to pay a short-term premium rate when you request the addition, and usually this can be done quickly and easily over the phone. The rate for ‘temporary drivers' will vary depending on the length of time the driver will be authorised to drive the car, but in most cases will be cheaper than adding them for the full year.
While some insurers will allow named drivers to build up their ‘no claims discount' credit while on someone else's policy, the majority do not. The driver can only build up their no claims discount by taking out their own car insurance policy.
To find the cheapest car insurance quotes look at price comparison websites like Confused.com and enter your details.
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