Insurance & the law

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Insurance & the law

If you are covered fully comp, and insured to drive any other car 3rd party...... If the other car is not insured at all, are you OK to still drive it?! :confused:

Yes but the wording of the policy is usually something like "The policyholder may drive another car providing it does not belong to him or hired or leased to him". Best to check your Certificate of Insurance for your actual wording.

You would also need to have the owner's permission to use the car and it must be legal i.e. have tax and MOT.

Dave.
 
First be sure you are covered. If the insurance is in a partners name with you as a named driver - you won't be covered to drive other cars (DOC). An increasing number of comprehensive policies don't have DOC, even if it was on last years cover you need to check that its still on the current policy. Most DOC is age limited, so check that you are within the age band.

The car needs to belong to some one else and not to you. It must not be hired by you or being bought by you on hire purchase or a car loan - even if its registered in the name of the car loan company.

If you are covered then the car you borrow doesn't need to be covered by any other policy. You need to be aware that it is covered while you are "using" it. "using" in the legal sense for car insurance purposes covers driving it. It also covers leaving it unattended while you pay for fuel you have just put in it. It doesn't cover you to park it outside your house or leave it for any length of time in a public car park.

You need the permission of the owner and it needs to be taxed, MOTd and fit to be on the road.

You stand a very high chance of being stopped by the police as the result of an ANPR check. Take your insurance cover note with you or the car could well be seized. You need to understand that even if you have comprehensive cover on your own car you get the absolute minimum cover when using the DOC. That means if you crash into a lamp post, the insurance will pay for the lamp post but NOT for any damage to the car.
 
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a thread on a forum dont make it right, it has to be insured to be on a road, suppose the handbrake fails or it catches on fire and damages other persons or properties

I suspect in that situation it would be the responsibility of whoever was in charge of the vehicle at the time of the failed handbrake or fire.

So any damage caused to third parties, or their property, should be covered by the driver's Comprehensive policy under his/her entitlement to drive other cars.

Dave.
 
The police officer and the motor insurance experts are clear that to have other insurance is not a legal requirement. They point out a number of possible problem areas like I did.

In the end the OP needs to check the small print of her own policy which may have a clause insisting that the car is covered by other insurance*. If it doesn't, then she can decide whether to believe the people who actually work in insurance and the law or those who don't say where they get their knowledge from.


*Her insurance will probably state that DOC can't be used to recover a non insured car that has been seized by police for being on the road without insurance cover. That closes a loophole in which people with DOC were advertising that they would recover seized cars from pounds for a fee of about £30 thus defeating the purpose of seizing the vehicle which was to force the owner to insure it.
 
this is why the car must be insured by the owner too, because once the driver gets out who is in charge of the car
That is why I put this in my earlier post

johnw said:
You need to be aware that it is covered while you are "using" it. "using" in the legal sense for car insurance purposes covers driving it. It also covers leaving it unattended while you pay for fuel you have just put in it. It doesn't cover you to park it outside your house or leave it for any length of time in a public car park.
 
If the other car is not insured at all then there are some questions you must ask like; is this person the legal owner? is it MOT'd? is it taxed? is it a write off? is it two cars welded together (cut n shut)? There must be a reason why someone has not bothered to insure it.

Remember the driver is responsible for the condition of the car, so even if you have insurance to drive it you can still be committing offences. If the tyres are below the legal minimum thats a fine and 3 points per tyre.

If ANPR pick you up, and you're stopped because of no tax or the car is the subject of a SORN then you as the driver will be responsible. You have to be very careful and ask questions because its your licence you're putting at risk.
 
My Certificate of Insurance ( Fortis ) says "The policyholder" can drive a car not owned by me, subject to conditions including:

There is a current and valid policy of insurance held for that motor car in accordance with Road Traffic Acts.

I interpret this as:

I, the policyholder can drive other insured cars that are not mine, named drivers can only drive the car they are named on the policy for.
 
My Certificate of Insurance ( Fortis ) says "The policyholder" can drive a car not owned by me, subject to conditions including:

There is a current and valid policy of insurance held for that motor car in accordance with Road Traffic Acts.

I interpret this as:

I, the policyholder can drive other insured cars that are not mine, named drivers can only drive the car they are named on the policy for.

Zurich/Endsleigh are the same but I didn't pay for the DOC option as it is cheaper to get tempuary cover in the event that I need it from the insane asking price! (btw Endsleigh insurance, underwitten by Zurich: same policy much cheaper)
 
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