Hi

I have a swiss driving license but no insurance. if I borrow a friend's car, would I typically be covered by their insurance?


Thnanks if you have the answer.

If you're not driving it everyday (say to work for example) then it should be ok but to be absolutely sure talk with your friends insurance company first.

By law damages caused by the car must be insured, no matter who sits behind the steering wheel. Damage on the car itself doesn't have to be covered by an insurance.

Right, the car owner must have liability insurance and you need a valid drivers license, and it doesn't hurt to have a note from the car's owner authorizing you to use it, especially if you drive outside of Switzerland.

Thanks all

Just one clarification......if they have fully comprehensive insurance, does that provide cover for repairing the car if i crash it?

Thanks

You insure the car here and not the person. You can not have number plates without insurance. We left CH a few years ago (have since returned), drove on Swiss number plates in the UK and switched to UK insurance, ie stopped the swiss insurance and we were sent a fine by the Strassenverkehrsamt! We didn't know, insurance and number plates are linked.

I drive our second car all the time on my partners insurance.

As long as you can legally drive here, ie have a valid license then the car is insured. If the car is fully comp then as far as I am aware then that is fine.

You can download the form saying that the owner has given you permission to drive from the TCS website www.tcs.ch, but I can't find it at the moment.

I asked a similar question of my insurance guy last week - what he told me (if I understood him correctly) is that once you are just using the car occasionally (less than 8 times/days per year in his example), it shouldnt be a problem - obviously you have to have a driving licence in this example.

Another thing - my house insurance (contents & 3rd party that kind of thing) would cover any liabilities arising from a car accident - not covered by the car insurance (of the person whose car I was driving). Sounded a bit wierd, but if it works, great or maybe I didnt understand this bit...

Generally the insurance company wants to know the most frequent driver and base the insurance upon that. Anyone else drives under the same conditions unless they are inexperienced or young or old in which case special conditions might well apply that can invalidate (most of) your insurance.

Additionally if the car is owned by a company, the insurance company wanted details of anyone driving who is not an employee, and rental (out) for gain not allowed.

dave

This is an often overlooked point, but a very good one.

One of my friends from Bern once borrowed the car of his girlfriend's father and got pulled over. I guess the police were first of all none-too-impressed that he couldn't locate the car's papers to show them. When he finally produced them and his name wasn't on any of the documents, he got a hell of a time. He almost ended up being arrested and the car being impounded. His girlfriend's parents now have a signed letter in with their insurance documents containing the names and dates of birth of people who occasionally drive the vehicle (their children and their children's significant others.) It's saved them a few times already.

Anywho.

HeatherM

Nobody has brought up age yet, I'm wondering if there is any (say under 25) restrictions that might apply (if the OP is under 25 it might be an issue).

Yeah I was specifically asked whether anyone under 25 would be driving the car. Unfortunately I had to explain I didn´t know anyone that young, as I have yet to experience a midlife crisis.

dave

Who waits for midlife when the Full Moon excuse pops up every month

Speaking from experience, when I was 19 I spent a bit of time driving around the Aargau countryside in a borrowed vehicle and the insurance people were fine with this arrangement.

I infer this to mean that if you are a truly occasional driver of the vehicle (i.e. someone who drives it once or twice a year) the under 25 thing doesn't seem to be a big deal, but perhaps they take a harder line with someone who is under 25 and a more regular user of the car, but isn't named on the insurance documents.

HM

Sorry to tell you this Dave, but your crisis hit the day Brett walked into town.

Welcome to the middle of your life!!!

Is he really that young ? Even so: we ain´t going on windy walks together, and he is not driving me home in my own car.

dave

Ok, so what if I am going say... to Florence and want to swap seats with a friend from time to time? Do I need special insuarence?

That you would have to ask at: englishforum.italy

Just wondering if anyone knows if the same applys for a motorcycle? I would assume so but better to ask. If I borrow my friends bike for a weekend getaway is her insurance going to cover me. Its only the P/L really that I am concearned about.

Thanks