Does it really matter who the car is registered to as long as there is insurance cover and you are a named driver?

I business lease my P2 through Lease Plan under my company name, I am the sole director and used my ncb for insurance purposes and paid with the company credit card.

Technically Lease Plan are the registered keeper (they have the V5).

 

Well it seems some companies will only insure you if you are the registered keeper such as Churchill from what they told me, or possibly they just won’t insure if the registered keeper is a company. Also I’ve read online that some insurance companies try to get out of paying if you are not the owner because of something to do with “insurable interest” which I think means that they claim as you are not the owner then you would not suffer any financial loss if something happened to the car so therefore you have no right to insure it in the first place, although apparently the financial ombudsman believe that if you have declared that a company owns the car or is the registered keeper that the insurance companies should pay out. This is all just from bits and pieces I have found in forums online and haven’t found anything concrete that says how it works in these situations (i.e. insuring a car owned and registered to your limited company) hence this post.

 

Also in your situation maybe Lease plan have insurance for all the cars they lease out that covers their cost if something happens to the car?

 

Just checked my policy with LV :-

What impacts your premiums – visit LV.com/carprice l 9 years NCD (the maximum) earned by
from driving this or a previous car in UK
Legal owner and registered keeper is a lease company
Purchased in 2020

Therefore insert your company name instead of lease company.

Also don’t forget to get some Gap insurance

 

I’m in a similar situation to @Loggia (a lease thru the co). I went with Admiral for about £500.

 

Have you tried using a broker who specialises in commercial insurance?
I have done exactly the same as you and this is my first company car for quite a few years, previously I personally owned my own car. This time I have purchased through my business and added it to my very small fleet insurance. It’s not cheap as we’ve had quite a few claims over the last few years £800 a vehicle.

 

I originally intended to get a lease but as only recently switching to become a limited company no lease company would touch me hence instead purchasing the vehicle. I know what insurance companies can be like having just had one that refused to pay out for something unrelated to this so just wanted to make sure that the current insurance for the car is valid.

Having only had personal car insurance before and not having enough company cars (only 1) to be able to get fleet insurance it has been difficult trying to get a definitive answer on how to ensure that a car owned by my limited company can be insured with me the named driver without the danger of the insurance company finding a way out of paying for a claim.

Various people online saying things such as a company car should be insured by the company and not the person driving it (i.e. the employee) which is fine if you have a company car from a larger company and you are not the director as the company would likely have fleet insurance for all the vehicles they own. Then the reports of companies refusing to pay because they consider that there is no "insurable interest" if the "employee" is insuring the car instead of the actual company (even though in my case the company is actually paying for it and I am the sole director of the company). All very confusing and most of the insurance companies I spoke to haven't been very helpful even the ones such as Direct Line and Churchill who other people said they have something similar to me through.

Needless to say it has hopefully now been sorted with Admiral insuring the car with me as the named driver but with the company as the registered keeper so I don't have to go through the process of trying to change the name of the registered keeper on the V5C which I was concerned might look dodgy if HMRC investigated the expense claim for the car through the business.

 

@Fiv I couldn't find any fleet insurance that would insure only one car, don't suppose you fancy adding me to your fleet insurance

 

I asked for that!
can you fix coffee machines?
In all seriousness I was driving an A35 prior to this (wife’s cast off) and when the PS2 came I added it to my personal insurance as the policy was due to expire and was negotiating the fleet renewal, the premium went up significantly, I think some insurance companies are unsure about them at the moment.

 

Hmmm - I need to check mine as car was purchased by my Ltd and I use it as a ‘company car’. Insured it via direct line and as far as I know its all ok. I will double check and report back...

 

I find it interesting that there seems no definitive answer to this. Being the suspicious person I am I believe it is likely that the insurance companies are deliberately ambiguous on this until you come to claim… then it will be oh you have the wrong insurance for this

 

I insured it on a personal policy with Admiral but the company paid. I was very clear that it was a company car, leased by the company and they seemed to think this was fine/normal. It’s a 1 car “fleet” so no fleet insurer wanted to know!

 

Just found the following article on a case relating to "insurable interest", maybe this is something other people online were referring to, if you don't fancy reading it all then the this is a brief extract:

"In mid 2012, Zurich rejected Mr W’s claim on the basis that he did not have an insurable interest in the vehicle. This was because a limited liability partnership (‘LLP’) – not Mr W - had paid for and was the registered keeper of the vehicle. Mr W was not a shareholder in either the LLP or the designated LLP members. Zurich concluded therefore that Mr W had no financial interest in the vehicle, and so no insurable interest."

This case is however different because "Mr W" was no longer a shareholder in company (the full article below explains this, he used to be but wasn't when he purchased the vehicle), plus from what I can tell in the article the financial ombudsman did actually rule in favour of "Mr W" and advised that Zurich consider the claim (I am not sure how much weight the financial ombudsman has to enforce this). So considering that I assume most people on here will still be a director of the company that purchased/leased the vehicle hopefully that should meet the "insurable interest" criteria.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/135255/DRN5335876.pdf

 

I had a similar experience with Tesla - purchased via Ltd - asked about 5 times to ensure I was the registered keeper as my insurer stipulates that in their T&Cs - car ended up having Ltd as registered keeper - sigh! Tesla told me to make a V5C amendment (didn't mention I would need a letter from them). I ended up returning the car due to faults so never got round to it. With Polestar I again bought via Ltd and asked twice that I was registered keeper and I was so all good.

 

I'm sure I asked Polestar if the car would be registered in my name but they said they can't find a record of it on the webchat.

Now that I seem to have found insurance with Admiral that are happy to have the company as the registered keeper I wonder if it is worth me trying to change the registered keeper from the company to me personally, it would of course mean more options for insurance companies going forward (i.e. the ones that want the car registered to you) but then it does mean having to send off the logbook with a letter from Polestar admitting their "mistake" which they may not be willing to do, plus maybe I am being overly paranoid but at what stage during the "6 weeks" that is quoted by DVLA will it switch from being registered to the company to being registered to me? What if I have an accident after it has switched over but before I have received the new V5C and updated my insurance, could my insurance try and wriggle out by saying "well you have the company as the registered keeper but the DVLA records show that you are the registered keeper not the company"

 

I'm with Admiral and I thought they required me to be the keeper (perhaps I got that wrong). I insured the car with me as keeper, Tesla V5C arrived as LTD so I phoned them and explained - plus said I was worried if I had an accident. They added to a note to my account saying that I was in the process of changing the keeper and reassured I was covered whilst making the change. Although who knows, often the phone people say these things and you do wonder if its true - so I made a note of the time and date of the call and the person's name. So I think you should be ok to change the keeper as long as you keep everyone informed and keep records of conversations etc. I think it's probably easier with you being the keeper (which, as I'm sure you know already, doesn't mean ownership - that's the LTD) for insurance (based on stuff I've read online).

 

@lewis Maybe they have changed since you got insured, as mentioned above other companies that people said allowed them to insure without being the registered keeper now don't seem to allow it (i.e. Direct Line and Churchill), below is a screenshot from the quote part of the Admiral website allowing you to do this and I can see on my insurance details that it says my company name as the registered keeper.

I think I will try and change it into my name just to make things easier when I come to renew my insurance next year, just hoping I can do it without having to register as a new keeper (resulting in the V5C changing the "No of former keepers"). I will send off the V5C with a cover letter from myself explaining the situation and also with a printout of an email from Polestar saying they are happy for DVLA to change it and they are happy to send DVLA an email stating this.

I think I will call my current insurance company and let them know that I am in the process of trying to change it and possibly record the call just in case they don't actually "make a note of it".

 

Yep, all looks good, maybe I got confused with another company as I did shop around a bit. Your plan seems sound to me

 

i can’t remember who is down as the keeper for me... need to check!

 

Just checked direct line FAQ and it says
"Usually, the person who owns the vehicle is the same person who insures it. However, you can still be the Policyholder without being the vehicle’s registered keeper, providing it’s legally owned and registered by one of the following:
• Your spouse, partner or civil partner (not a business partner)
• Your parent
• Your employer or a lease company
Also, the vehicle must be kept at the same address as the Policyholder (no matter who owns it)."

In my case I am an employee of my LTD company so I am ok as the car is registered to my 'employer'
May try and call to doublecheck but seems very straight forward versus this thread...

 

Based on that it is very odd that the website would not give me a quote when I put that I wasn't the registered keeper, also the person I spoke to on the phone said the same, he said that the system he uses is the same as what the website does so he wouldn't be able to quote me if the website didn't. I am also an employee of my LTD company. I might try and run through a quote on their website again now just as a test, I went through some many websites trying to get a quote I want to make sure I am not getting confused as to who would and who wouldn't quote me.

 

Nope, they obviously don't like me, all very standard information entered apart from selecting a company as the registered keeper.

 

Nope, they obviously don't like me, all very standard information entered apart from selecting a company as the registered keeper.

I had a ‘online chat’ and the guy confirmed that there is no issue with Ltd being registered keeper and that my policy was all good. I checked my policy and it does have LTD as registered keeper in the doc. When I got my quote, I did it over the phone rather than the website as I also had to make sure my previous company car insurance NCD was carried forward.

 

I thought I would share my experience with regards to insuring the car in the UK which was purchased by my limited company just in case it helps someone else or if anyone has any comments or advice if what I have done doesn't seem legitimate. I purchased my Polestar 2 through my Ltd company of which I am the sole director, I am sure I was told by Polestar that I would be the registered keeper (not the Ltd company) and as such insured the car in my name but paid for the insurance with the Ltd companies bank card with Churchhill as the Ltd company would be the owner. I thought everything was okay until today I received the V5C logbook and found that it was the company down as the registered keeper rather than me personally (the address is the same for both so that part is okay). I called Churchhill to check if this was a problem and they said that they couldn't insure the car like this because I needed to be the registered keeper (not the Ltd company) and that I would need to change the V5C document to be in my name. I even went through their website quote system to see if it would let me do it (i.e. add a company as the registered keeper) that way but no joy, I also tried Direct Line (as I had read others had done it with them) both online and the phone to see if they would insure the car where the company was the registered keeper but they would not. Panicking realising that effectively I have been driving the car for a couple of days technically without insurance I was trying to see what I could do, DVLA said to amend the V5C document as a correction rather than a change of registered keeper (i.e. the document showing more than one former keepers) I would need to send it back and get a cover letter from Polestar admitting their mistake (I am waiting to hear back from Polestar as to whether they will be willing to do that but I don't think it is likely and based on the below it is hopefully not necessary), also this process could take 6 weeks or so and I of course can't have the car effectively uninsured for that amount of time. I did a quote with LV and it looked like they would allow me to insure with a company being the registered keeper but it was around £1200 for the year. Finally I got a quote from Admiral that let you put a company as the registered keeper including the name of the company but the insurance policy is in my name, this came out to around £500 and I have since cancelled the policy with Churchill so hopefully all is good. Not sure if anyone else has had similar experiences or believe the way I have done this is not correct. Just to clarify, the car is owned and the registered keeper is my Ltd company, it is a company car for personal use (i.e. not a pool car or for only business use), the full cost of the car and the car insurance will be getting claimed as a company expense.

This is really useful as I am going through exactly this issue today and your write up has helped enormously, My car is deliberately in the company name as it is a business asset and the business pays for it. I will give Admiral call.

 

If it helps anyone we insure with the NFU Mutual and company owned vehicles are no problem; we have separate policies for company owned cars, privately owned cars and commercial vehicles, Hilux(!). In each case they have a named main driver with either a limited amount of other named drivers, any driver over 25 or absolutely any driver depending on use. Any main driver over 25 also has minimum 3rd party insurance to drive any car with the owners' permission.

 

I am insured through Admiral and it is a company car. We have 5 cars on a multi policy of which only the P2 is a company vehicle and there was no problem including it. Just registered the interest of the leasing company too and owner. The premium isn't bad even including my 26 year old son as a named driver (under £500.00).

 

Think you’ve sorted it out now but if you buy a car through the business and thus its classed as a business asset (to benefit from capital tax allowance etc) then the legal owner and thus registered keeper is the LTD company. There is no two ways about this! If you manage to get a V5 amendment to your name, even if you are the ltd co director, then beware. You may be the director but you and your LTD company are not one of the same from a legal perspective!! You will NOT be insured and this may have serious ramifications. I do fear how many people having purchased via a LTD are blissfully unaware they aren’t insured. As stated, you need to find an insurer who will accept the LTD co as the registered keeper and you as the names policy holder. Sounds like Admiral is the go to option.