The Accidental Offence: A Driver's Guide to Avoiding the Insurance Traps

The Accidental Offence: A Driver's Guide to Avoiding the Insurance Traps

The Trap #2: The "Driving Other Cars" (DOC) Confusion

Many experienced drivers hold a long-standing belief that having a comprehensive insurance policy automatically allows them to drive any other car on a third-party basis. This is a dangerously outdated assumption.

• The Scenario:Your partner's car won't start, so you jump in their car to run a quick errand, assuming your own comprehensive policy covers you. You are pulled over by the police and discover you are not insured to drive that vehicle.
• The Prevention Strategy:The "Driving Other Cars" extension is now a rare feature on modern insurance policies, and where it does exist, it often comes with significant restrictions (e.g., only for over-25s, only for emergencies). The only way to be certain is to read the specific wording of your own policy document. Before you get behind the wheel of any car other than your own, you must have explicit confirmation that you are insured to do so. This misunderstanding is a leading cause of charges for driving without insurance.