Hi

My brother bought a car on finance and when insuring the car i was made first driver and policyholder. However when the log book was requested to be sent from my dealer but they sent it under my brother's name not mine which i didn't take note of. My brother wrote off the car, he was second driver on the insurance and my insurance is voided what can i do? i put the money into my brothers account to pay for the car. the car that was traded in when the finance for the car was taken out belonged to me... Does that make me the legal owner? Can anyone help pleasee

hi,as far as i know the registered keeper is not nessaserily the legal owner, im sure someone with more knowlage will be along with more advise soon.

The legal owner of the car is not necessarily the Registered Keeper, and in fact the Finance company could probably claim that THEY are the legal owner of the car and are renting it to you under a hire purchase agreement scheme.

Why is your insurance voided? what have the insurance company said?

poss voided as the PH is not the owner or registered keeper which is sometimes a requirement when obtaining car insurance.

you have to out a valid argument across to explain why the policy was setup this way etc

They may have voided the policy under the belief that you named yourself as the main driver to reduce the premium for your brother (fronting). Is your brother younger than you? Does he have motoring convictions? Do you have NCB and he doesn't? Has he held his licence for less time than you? Is it a performance car?

If the answer to any of these is yes then your insurer can argue that they would have never considered insuring the car, had they know your brother was to be the main driver. You have told them that he isn't the main driver, but the fact that he financed the car and is named on the V5 tells them otherwise.

The best way forward is to explain what has happened, from your perspective, in writing. It will help greatly if your brother has another car registered and insured in his name. If he does, send them the details.

If my assumptions in the questions above are incorrect and your brother is older than you with a better driving history, then you should write in and point this out. Say you were honest when insuring the car in your name and as the main driver, despite the fact that it gave you no financial benefit to do so. Explain that not noting him as the owner and registered keeper on the policy was an oversight, and send them proof that you made a payment to him for the car.

Tough one and I feel you are a little at the insurance company’s mercy. The policy was obtained using incorrect information and they would have certainly questioned the different owner/registered keeper had you told them about it when you asked for a quote. They may well have refused to insure you.

It is still worth escalating to the Ombudsman if you have no joy. Good luck!

My brother is younger than me however the owner of the vehicle does not change the premiums on my car insurance for the reason that i am the main user of the vehicle. The fact that i had paid the majority of his finance which can be proved as well as the car that was traded in was under my name. the only reason the finance wasn't taken out under my name was due to my credit history i was unable to.

Your best option is to go back to the insurance company with a written explanation of what happened.

It may be worth while discussing with the FOS - just so they can explain what your options are.