Driving car permanently as named driver, is it illegal?

If named driver becomes main driver, do you need to inform the insurance company?

My nephew has just gone to prison and his wife is a named driver on the car insurance, can she still drive it without changing the policy?

[Migrated from previous topic 12779 dated 19 Nov 2017]

This is not illegal, as long as you are listed as the main driver. It does not matter that you are not the registered owner. This is a similar scenario to myself being the registered keeper of my sons car (20 yr old), he is the listed main driver and also a named driver. The key point from your case is Who is main driver listed on the policy. It should be you.

For standard car insurance policies, it would be classified as illegal. This is because a named driver is someone who shares the car driven mainly by the policyholder. The main driver is supposed to drive the car more often and not the named driver. If the insurer finds out, your insurance will become invalid. The worst part is when you need to make a claim, the insurer might then and there inform you that your insurance is void because you've been fronting on your car insurance.

Under what sort of circumstances are you driving the car as a named driver? Is it your parents car? Are you a young/new driver?