Insuring a car in someone else's name

Now there is an interesting way to be insured. Don't tell the insurance company. Or better still, don't have an accident. If you are not named as the predominant driver, you might find yourself without insurance cover...legally speaking you're committing fraud

We're all covered on the insurance though. I don't actually know how it works. The insurance company actually took care of everything and they know we live here and drive the car here. So I'm not going to worry about it. But I'm a little worried about shelling out 150 Euros for a stupid car key.

When I insured my car (in the UK) and lived in two places, the insurance company wanted the address I parked the car at *most often*. I think they would find it very hard to prove that you were parking it somewhere else more often. But still, it is wrong if you are keeping it somewhere else most of the time, and when your car gets stolen/broken into the rest of us suffer by increased premiums because you lied on the form ... naughty girl!

edit: did you actually tell the insurance company you would be keeping the car here most of the time?

I didn't lie to anyone about anything. I rear ended some guy with my old car and took the blame for it and told the insurance it was my fault etc. When we got the new car, I was also completely honest about where I live, where I drive, etc. I'm insured through a company in my father-in-law's hometown. And it covers me driving the car in Munich. I talked with the insurance guy directly and told him the deal. I didn't lie about any of it.

I'm not a naughty girl, BTW. I don't do a runner when I go out drinking, I don't steal ashtrays, salt shakers, etc and I DON'T LIE ON MY INSURANCE FORMS.

Edit: PS, am not really upset-- but I didn't lie on my forms.

Maybe not on yours, but who did on theirs?
Irrespective of who owns the car, it should be registered to the person who is the predominant owner, in the place where it is kept. This is also the basis for the insurance and car tax. If the car is not registered to you (or at least, to your address) then you (or the person who registered it) is defrauding the authorities (as car tax will be paid to the wrong one) and the insurance company as they have based the risk and your premium on the location the car is kept and who they believe is the predominant owner/driver.
The insurance company or the agent who arranged it? (who earned a comission on the sale and recurring premiums).

I don't know. But I know I'm included on the insurance. Is that honestly illegal?? But why would the insurance company play along with something like that?

Sorry Jenny L, I posted before I had read your post about the insurance company taking care of it. If I were you I would check the small print to see what that address can be, because otherwise one day they might just turn around and refuse to pay out. If it was a broker you spoke to (rather than the actual insurance company) it wouldn't be that surprising.

But still, it is wrong that the car is registered as being at a different address. Not least because otherwise everyone would do that to get cheaper insurance! Don't you feel like you are cheating the system by paying less insurance than you should be for where you keep the car? You admit it has only been done to get cheaper insurance than you *should* be paying. Why do you think it is more expensive where you live???

@sgb27, @YorkshireLad6 - You guys are making a whole lot of assumptions when accusing Jenny L of fraud. She never said the address has been falsified or the insurance company has been lied to. Where are you getting that !!! If the insurance company offers better rates for multiple cars or just because her father-in-law know the agent, why not take advantage of it. Nothing wrong with that.

My brother-in-law is an insurance agent and I get a good deal from him. I supose now you'll somehow figure that I'm committing fraud

For the third time:
Is the insurance cheaper because they think the car is registered where he lives? Would it be more expensive if the car was registered where it (the car) actually lives? If the car really does live somewhere which would attract a higher insurance premium then the insurance company is being deceived. Or we'd all register our cars in the same place, and Munich would be a car-free city on paper.

For the second time,

Jenny L's statement says the insurance is cheaper where her father-in-law lives and the car is registered to her father-in-law. It doesn't say the car is registered where her father-in-law lives. I could certainly buy a car and park it somwhere else. It would still be insured by me with my home address. The car would be registered where it lives. I've done this in the past when I was working on a long term project. Nothing fraudulent or illegal about it...simple really.

I have no understanding of how insurance works here. Is it based on location or on the person being insured? Is it the car that's insured or the driver? I was talking to my husband last night and he said we've insured the car (?) to meet some specific criteria: All drivers are 30+ (myself included) , the car is regularly parked in a garage, we aren't covered in hail storms, nobody is smoking in the car, etc. Both my husband and I are listed on the insurance.

Now, I'm not an insurance expert (and if there actually are any on TT, perhaps they could enlighten us all) but I'm not going to sit here crapping myself because I may or may not be not quite accurate with my insurance. The place where we bought the car knows where we live, the Kfz-Zulassungsstelle where we had the car registered knows where we live, the insurance company knows where we live.

I know tons of people who "live" in the eastern part of Germany, but work in Munich all week and still have their hometown license plates on. Is that fraud as well? What about students? They study in Munich but come from some bumblefuck village in the Saarland somewhere and still have their cars registered there.

But thanks for drawing my attention to the fact that I should look into the situation a bit more exactly.

Insurance comapnies are reach enough to cover these costs. Dont worry about these vampires.

That is the point, you have to register the CAR where it is usually kept, and that is what determines the premium. The address of the person paying for the insurance makes little if no difference. Just like Jenny said about their insurance being for the car usually kept in a garage, you need to tell the address the car is usually kept. This is so that they can assess the risk of the car being broken into/stolen/damaged. Of course you can park it somewhere else and it will still be insured, but if you are parking it somewhere else most of the time then you must inform your insurance comany that the car is now kept at a different address. If you don't then technically your insurance is invalid and that might be illegal as well as not being able to get any money when you rear-end a shiny a new BMW or run someone over. Read your small print to check, it should say.

As YL6 and I have already said, if this wasn't the case then we'd be registering our cars address as somewhere not in Munich to get cheaper insurance!#

@koorosh, they are rich enough because they will always try to wangle their way out of paying a claim if they can - unlikely they will find out, but the problems if they do could be huge

To register a car you need to show proof of residence, so her father-in-law would have had to show proof of HIS residence. Ergo the car is registered where her father-in-law lives.

Insurers base their premium on risk. Among other things risk is calculated from knowlege of drivers, accident statistics for the type of driver and car, type (value or cost to repair) of car, and the risk of it being stolen, or being in an accident. Geography has a lot to do with this risk evaluation. A city dweller is more likely to have their car stolen than a countryside dweller, and the risk of accident are higher because of traffic density in the cities. That's why people outside cities pay less for their insurance. The time you find there is a problem is when you have a claim...

Perhaps this is why I keep losing my car keys. It's a sign from God to stop driving cars not properly registered and insured under my name. You guys have me all freaked out now. Just off to see if I can get a spare key made. Thanks for the tips.

Our car is a comany leased car. Company is based in Frankfurt, so numberplate reflects that. We live and are insured for Munich. A cars numberplate does not always reflect where the owner lives...and means I can drive like I am lost, which I often am, and get away with it.

Jenny, relax. It is not as if you have paid somebody to steal your car and torch it. Good luck with the key. I read the link because I have lost one set of keys and are down to the last one!!! You are not alone there.

Company or leased (or rented) cars are treated differently as they are insured under blanket policies (which from a risk point of view are more expensive, but from level of business generated attract additional discounts).

You cant really define 'most of the time' border. My car is parked for half of the day in front of my apartment and for the rest in front of my work place far from munich. What do you say now sqb?

Well, the insurance companies I've dealt with need to know the address where the car is usually kept overnight, and how it is stored (on public road, on private driveway, or in a garage). Then they want to know if I will be using it for commuting to work or not. For border-line cases where you live somewhere 50% of the time, I doubt they would care, but if you are never (or very rarely) leaving your car where you told them you would "usually" leave it, they are quite entitled to invalidate your insurance.

As always, check the small print of your policy if you want to know for sure...

It's based on the registered address of the vehicle and the estimated number of kilometres driven per year, along with such information as predominant drivers, and usage for business/work purposes. There are discounts if usage is restricted, e.g. to drivers over 25 years old or if the vehicle is kept in a garage... Of course, the insurance can't enforce every discount clause, but if your car was stolen at noght from your back street after you had claimed garage discount, then they might ask why you'd not put it in the garage that night and if they felt you had no garage to put it in (or the garage was already full), they may refuse the claim.

If your car is stolen you dont needto tell them where it was stolen from. You can always mention another location you were staying as a guest. Ok of course morality is something different from this discussion here.

You will have to tell the police though (and the insurance company will want to see their report), are you suggesting lying to the police as well? That is seriously a bad idea, especially as they may already have reports of your car being tampered with/stolen from the real location you left it. Telling the police it was stolen from your garage when it is on the road is going to be tricky too, when there is no evidence of people gaining entry to your garage. Seriously, insurance companies will try everything possible to get out of paying a big claim, they will want to check everything is in ordnung before paying out. Anything that looks slightly suspicious and they will pounce on it.

And if it does go tits up you will be in trouble for insurance fraud, driving without insurance and misinforming the police about a crime, they are all pretty serious. And on top of that you will have lost your car. I think you'd be silly to take the risk just to save a €50 or so each year.

Forget morals. To claim on the insurance you also need to report it stolen to the police. To give the police false information is both fraudulent and illegal. If the car was later recovered and the thief 'fesses up to where he stole it, you are in deep shit with both the police and the insurance, and probably will find yourself uninsured as a result, doubling the pain and agony.