Registered Keeper and Named Driver, Owner of Car?

Registered keeper - this is the person and their address, who normally has the car. For example when a person has a company car they may be registered as the keeper though they are not the owner.

Named driver - this is a driver who has been added to a car insurance policy to be an additional one to the main driver. The insurer will not deal with this person

Policyholder - the person who pays for the policy and whos name appears on it as so. This is nearly always the registered keeper, main user/driver and owner as insurers do not like it any other way

Owner - the person who is the beneficial financial owner, the person who would be able to sell the car and get the money for it. In the UK this is nearly always the Registered Keeper too in the case of private cars.

A no claims bonus can normally only be built up by a policy holder. At the end of each complete year another years bonus is added and as long as this can be proven in writing the bonus will be honoured by a new insurer

A few insurers offer NCBs to named drivers but these cannot be ported to another insurer and so are often useless as staying with that insurer even with a bonus can still work out more expensive than going elsewhere.

NOW - remember this, insurers know all the scams you do and many more besides. If you wish to have a car legally then you are going to be the Owner, Keeper, Main Driver and Insurance Policyholder - if you cannot afford to do all that then just like loads of young people you cannot afford to have a car and for it to be legal. There are now too many ways to get caught out to make doing otherwise worthwhile.

The owner is the person who legally acquired it, usually by paying for it or perhaps through inheriting it or receiving it as a gift etc. This can be different from:

The registered keeper, who is the person whose details are recorded at DVLA as being responsible for it; this is the person to whom the authorities first look when any queries or difficulties arise. Yet again, this can be different from:

The user. There must be insurance in place to cover that person's use of the car, no matter who owns or keeps it. The insurance must be in the name of the main user, though sometimes another subsidiary driver is added as a "named driver". Any no claims bonus is accrued by that insurance policy.

For example, technically I'm the owner of my daughter's car. since I bought and paid for it. For a while I was also the registered keeper so I could keep an eye on the legalities, tax and so on while she was away at uni. She had, and still has, her own insurance policy on which I am a named driver so I can drive the car to have it serviced, tested, and whatever else needs to be done in her absence. She acquires any ncb on her policy.

It is confusing, there's little doubt of that. Once you get your head around the fact that there are three legal entities invovled - owner, keeper and insured driver - who can be one and the same or possibly completely different, you'll grasp it.

In the UK there is no real legal definition of the car's "owner", other than whoever's name the receipt is in and it's not something the law are interested in.

The registered keeper is the one who is legally responsible for the vehicle and is the person who will be held responsible for ensuring the car is kept in legal condition, taxed, MOTd insured etc.

The driver is the one who must be insured and they don't necessarily need to be either the owner or registered keeper.

The insurance company communicates with the policyholder, who may not necessarily be the owner, registered keeper or driver.

The registered keeper is the person who bought the car and whose name is on the log book as is the owner however the named driver is the person named as the other driver when applying for insurance. For example, i bought a car so i am the owner and the keeper, my wife does most if not all the driving so she is insured to drive my car, i am down as a named driver so that i am insured for the odd occasions that i get behind the wheel. If my wife and i were apart and living at different addresses then the keeper is which of us keeps the car outside the house or in a garage.The insurance company will communicate with my wife as the main driver and she gets the no claims bonus entitlement.

The owner of the car is the person who paid for it, or who had it given to them. Normally but not always this would be the person who's name is on the V5C. The person who's name is on the V5C is the registered keeper, who is the first point of contact for traffic tickets and enquiries about Tax disks, insurance and MOT, or lack of these. A named driver is simply someone who's name is listed on the insurance as an insured driver for that vehicle.

The registered keeper is responsible for making sure that the vehicle is road legal, but he can have someone else do these things. It's the responsibility of a driver to make sure he is insured, but this can be done by someone else naming him on a policy. The NCB goes to the person who signs and pays the insurance , who doesn't have to be the owner or registered keeper, or even driver of the vehicle. Complicated isn't it?

I believe you're in the UK, so the American answers are irrelevant. It's not a question of who the registered keeper or legal owner are, it is a question of who is named on the insurance. The insurance must be in the name of the principal driver of the car, with any additional drivers named as such. If you are thinking of pretending that your dad is the main user in order to pay a lower premium when in fact you are the main user, that is a form of fraud well known to the insurance companies, known as "fronting".