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How often can a named driver drive my car?

There are certain benefits to adding another driver to your car insurance policy. If you’re a high-risk driver, then naming a low-risk driver on your policy can actually bring down your premium, because the risk is then shared. Critically however, there are certain restrictions on how often someone named on your policy can drive your vehicle.

Any named driver can use your vehicle occasionally. That means they shouldn’t be the permanent driver, nor should they be regularly using the vehicle, for example for driving to work.

If someone is named as an additional driver but in fact has main use of the car, this is called fronting, which is illegal. This often happens with parents and young drivers. Because new, inexperienced drivers face high premiums, a policy might instead be taken out with mum or dad as the main driver and the high-risk child as a named driver. But if the young driver in fact plans to have main use of the car, this is considered fraud.  

On the other hand, if you share your vehicle with someone else in equal measure, speak to your insurance provider. You may need to take out a joint insurance policy, or else they can advise you on the next steps.

*51% of consumers could save £518.14 on their Car Insurance. The saving was calculated by comparing the cheapest price found with the average of the next five cheapest prices quoted by insurance providers on Seopa Ltd’s insurance comparison website. This is based on representative cost savings from June 2025 data. The savings you could achieve are dependent on your individual circumstances and how you selected your current insurance supplier.

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