Elderly relative and car insurance.

Trying to avoid myself getting into trouble with car insurance and possibly finding myself without cover in the event of an accident.

FiL who is approaching 90 and in the opinion of family members is not capable of driving safely...he will argue otherwise.
He had a stroke around 3 years ago and seems to have recovered his speech but is very unsteady on his feet. He also had heart surgery to replace a valve around 4 years ago.

While he doesn't drive he has added me as a named driver on his car so I can take him to hospital appointments etc because he can't get into any of our cars.

I'm concerned that he may not have a valid licence due to his stroke especially although he tells me his GP didn't tell him he couldn't drive. In any event and from what I can ferret off the net, he should have told DVLA and his insurer. I'm confident he wouldn't have done so knowing that he may have to do a DVLA assessment to decide if he is capable of driving.

Am I right in thinking, that if I was driving his car and an accident happened his non disclosure of medical conditions would void his insurance and leave him open to potential consequences from his insurer & DVLA? More importantly, from my POV, I could be found guilty of driving with no insurance despite being a named driver?

For now, I'm not driving his car until I can positively confirm he's informed DVLA and his insurer of his medical conditions.

Thoughts appreciated.





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Your own insurance may cover you to drive his car on a third party basis.

Within his policy it will be incumbent upon him to declare the medical condition. Failing to do so will render his policy voidable but not necessarily void. However this isn’t a situation you want to test.

You would be covered 3rd party no doubt if you have a car policy of your own but that is only provided the car you are driving is covered on a policy of insurance already.

You are going down the right route though doing your own due diligence

If he can’t actually drive the car why not insure in your name? Obviously he would have to cancel his insurance first. Or maybe the insurer could transfer the policy to you?

Probably not as it seems too simple and we all know car insurers like to make things difficult for the customer.

As well as the potential insurance issue, arguably the bigger point is whether or not he is safe to drive. Persuading an elderly relative to surrender their licence (or even get properly assessed) is really difficult. We had to do it with my MiL when I saw her driving at about 10mph down the centre of the road (being patiently followed by other road users) before missing her driveway and driving slowly driving into her flowerbed. She thought she was OK to drive when she clearly was no longer capable of driving safely.

I don't think you would be on the hook with his insurers should you be involved in a 3rd party claim.

(as long as you could reasonably claim that you did not know he had no license - only that he had a policy which you had seen).

But - if you had an accident in that car, that the insurers paid out on (and that could be hundreds of thousands/millions in extreme cases of personal injury) - the insurers WILL payout on the policy, but will seek to recover those costs from the policy holder (your FiL) - that will bankrupt him (might bankrupt him with a much lesser claim).

As has been mentioned - investigate a policy where you are the principle driver, but otherwise - have that hard talk and suggest he sells the car and takes taxis from now on.

Cancel his policy. He pays for you to insure his car. Simple. No grey area.

My mum lost her driving licence last year due to a health issue, her doctor told her not to drive and she surrendered her licence to DVLA, her insurer had no issue still covering her car and adding me as a main driver until the issue was sorted , around 7 months later she was able to reapply for her licence and return to driving and I became a named driver

If he is no longer going to drive then you need to sort it properly, if its likely to be temporary then just speak to his insurer and explain the situation , ultimately its what they are comfortable covering

Thanks for your thoughts all.

For now, I'm concerned with the legalities of me driving as a named driver if he hasn't informed his insurer and DVLA of his notifiable medical conditions - I've no interest in testing any grey areas should the worst happen with me at the wheel.
Until I can confirm otherwise, i doubt his licence his valid with the need to renew it every 3 years.

The conversation will be held with him regarding his ability to drive safely...not going to be pleasant!
To be fair, he hasn't to our knowledge, driven himself in the last month or so.

His need to be 'transported' is very infrequent, once or twice a month...and I've just discovered that my wife managed to get him in her Smart car for an appointment last month, so all is not lost if he needs to go somewhere.

We'll see if a conversation can be held with his insurer to see if the policy can be transferred to me. Doubt it can be done easily especially as all our no-claims entitlement is used on our cars...maybe they'll mirror it?
A new policy with no no-claims bonus will probably be too costly for the few times he'll need to be a passenger.
A few options perhaps if he wants to keep his car.



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