Friends are shortly to spend 3 years living and working abroad with only infrequent and brief trips home. I shall be looking after one of their two cars (the other a classic, in secure storage).

I said to change the registered address to be my own (so I can keep tax etc up to date for their visits), and to add me as a named driver on their insurance (for trips to MoT etc), which they would maintain.

Their broker maintains this is impossible, that as non-residents they cannot insure a car in the UK, for me to keep their car available to them ownership would have to be transferred to myself (an undesirable increase in former keepers in the logbook).

I would then insure with the true owners as named drivers - and presumably can't use their NCD either.

This seems absolutely daft. There must be thousands of ex-pats who maintain cars in this country - think of Philip Green! Surely they can't all have to do this?

And surely I can't insure a car (eg the classic, also a problem) that doesn't belong to me?