Similar subject to my Policyholder/Keeper/Main Driver thread but this is a different car (not a Ford), different driver and scenario.

Put as simply as I can, my (other) granddaughter wishes to borrow her father's car (a VW Passat) for a week's (I think) holiday with her friends as it is larger than their other car (a Kia Picanto) and more suited to long journeys. She is currently not insured to drive the Passat but is a named driver on the Picanto.

As the policies on both cars will be up for renewal this summer, they are suggesting that she be made the main driver on the Passat (her father is currently the main driver) to enable her to use the car for the holiday. I think this is unnecessary as I believe it would be ok to put her on the renewed policy as a named driver on the Passat as it is only for the holiday (in the UK) and also he could lose his no claims discount built up over many years if he became only a named driver. I doubt if she will be driving the car much afterwards as she is going to uni in September. Also, in addition, he will be using the Passat for work in the autumn as he does now so it makes no sense at all for him to change to a named driver.

I believe that a named driver using a car for a week or two's holiday wouldn't negate the Named Driver status as long as she didn't drive it much for the rest of the year whether it is in accumulated miles or time. Am I right?

Another option I think would be even better is if she were to be insured seperately for the Passat , on a temporary policy with, for example, Veygo for the holiday which we have used many times in the past. The cost of the temporary insurance would probably be less than making a 19 yr old the main driver on the Passat

Comments invited.

I'd agree with your interpretation Alan. Main driver is the person who drives the car most, which would definitely seem to be the current owner.

As it sounds like the proposed holiday is a bit of a one-off, a temporary policy might be worth investigating - I'd be interested in seeing what the cost is nowadays.

Another possibility might be hiring a larger vehicle including insurance for the holiday? I used to do this when holidaying with "the lads" as none of us had a big enough car. I suspect that there may be more restrictions on age etc, now, though, compared to the early 70s!

The holiday is temporary.

She may be the main driver that week, but that's it.

A week's temporary cover may or may not work out cheaper than named driver for a week, have a look

Thanks for the comments.

As I said, we have used Veygo a number of times in the past when both granddaughters were learning to drive and also since getting a full licence in the case of the 22 yr old. Veygo (part of Admiral Insurance) has always been cheaper than other temporary cover providers (e.g. TempCover) and very easy to arrange cover with.

It was an eye opener when getting quotes and found that by trial and error for young drivers, weekends after 7pm were a no- go to get cover for with no explanation, just an 'Unable to quote' result. Changing the time to end at 7pm always got a quote. Likewise, when they got full licenses, the premium doubled or more but was usually worthwhile for a few hours or days cover. It all makes sense.

I couldn't get a quote from any company for the 19 yr old for a week's cover. Obviously having a full license for only 6 months made it prohibitive but from Veygo for the 22yr old it would be just under £100 which I don't think is too bad. Unfortunately it is the 19yr old that needs the cover.

Adding her as a named driver is the answer I think.

Something I've noticed before with Veygo. Sometimes the website declines to give you a quote ( reason not given. Something like "Unable to give you a quotation in this instance") and it is usually out of office hours when this happens. I have even had on-line chats in which I am told that they are unable to give a reason for the inability to quote. I realise now that it was a very clever chatbot. Try again during office hours with exactly the same information and it will work! I suspect that the algorithms cannot deal with some detail you have given which isn't run of the mill and it requires human intervention to override whatever it has rejected

Car insurance is a minefield!