Borrowing a friend's car? Make sure you’re insured!

Those considering borrowing a car this bank holiday because they believe their cover gives them the right to drive any car legally take note, research by Confused.com has uncovered an alarming host of misconceptions about the cover your motor insurance gives you when it comes to driving someone else's pride and joy.

27% of under 25s believe their insurance automatically entitles them to drive other cars, when in fact most policies will only cover those over this age.

52% of under 25s and 41% of over 25s believe the ‘Driving other cars' extension gives them cover for damage to the car they are driving as well as whatever they hit.

A worrying 34% of Third Party Only customers, who don't have cover for damage to their own car, believed they could drive other cars on their policy and, more concerning, 54% of those believed they would be covered for any damage to the borrowed vehicle. 

Will Thomas, head of motor insurance says "Those who mistakenly borrow a car from a friend believing they have cover are effectively driving completely uninsured. Those who do have the ‘Driving other cars' extension may well be one of the 44% who wrongly believe that any damage to the vehicle they are in will be covered in the event of an accident.  In actual fact the ‘Driving Other Cars' extension covers the driver for third party only risks - damage they caused to others. Any damage to the car being driven is your responsibility.

So how has this mistaken belief become so widespread? The fact of the matter is it  used to be standard on most comprehensive policies, meaning that parents may have mistakenly passed on the message that any old insurance cover meant you were allowed to drive any car. Unfortunately, along with a lot of previously standard features for comprehensive cover, this ‘driving other cars' extension, that was only ever designed for emergency use, is now being stripped out of many policies. Where it is still available, the rules have changed and, more often than not, it will not apply to under 25s.

Shocking results like these suggest there may well be a lot of mistakenly uninsured cars on the road; people need to be made aware of the limitations of their cover. Policy features like this need serious consideration when you are looking for your car insurance.  Using price comparison is the easiest way to compare benefits side by side to make sure that there are no nasty surprises in the future"