It is sometimes more prudent and wiser to hand over the wheel to your partner or any other person, especially on long journeys. To encourage taking over driving, it is not essential to take out separate insurance, and you can very simply add a second insured to your insurance. Find out what the conditions are for adding an additional driver to your car insurance.
Article summary
What are the coverage conditions for a second driver?
Duties of the secondary driver
How to register a second driver?
What are the coverage conditions for a second driver?
The second driver must be required to take the wheel on a regular basis; in this sense, it is different from an occasional driver. Please note, the secondary driver must not take the wheel any more than the main driver; if so, it is insurance fraud. However, this offense is punishable by termination of contract but also by very heavy sanctions (fine, imprisonment). The secondary driver must therefore take the wheel, for example only on weekends, or to take over from the main driver on long journeys. The main driver is required to complete most of the annual mileage. So, if your child is insured as a secondary driver, he borrows your vehicle every day to go to college, and you take him for your part on an occasional basis, you are not legal.
The secondary driver is most often the spouse or one of the children of the main insured.
In general, the amount of the premium is not significantly impacted by the addition of a second driver. However, if you add one of your children to your contract, be aware that young drivers, considered by insurers as risky drivers, are generally required to pay an additional premium. In this particular case, the amount of your contract may therefore be considerably impacted.
Duties of the secondary driver
- Penalty bonuses
The young driver insured as a secondary driver will be able, like the main driver, to accumulate bonuses.
In fact, the bonus-malus is linked to the insured vehicle and not to the insured.
Thus, a secondary driver who demonstrates good driving can therefore benefit from a bonus which will be reflected in his contract when he takes out his own insurance policy.
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The calculation is therefore interesting for a young driver, who has every interest in registering with their spouse or parents’ insurance.
Conversely, if one of the two drivers is the cause of an accident at fault, both drivers will be liable to a penalty.
- Usage checks
As a licensed driver, the secondary driver is required to respect certain requirements: he must in particular check whether the insurance certificate is affixed to his windshield, and whether it is still valid.
He must also provide the police with an up-to-date insurance certificate in the event of an identity check.
If he is not able to provide these elements, he is liable to sanctions: fine, withdrawal of license, etc.
How to register a second driver?
The steps to take to register a second driver are very simple: simply contact your insurance and notify them of the addition of a driver to your contract.
You can send an email to your insurer, who will contact you to tell you the amount of the increase in your premium.
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