Insured or Uninsured..that is the question?
Discussion
Hope all are well. I haven't posted in a while due to personal stuff going on as well as busy work and just life.
Anyway to the point,
A "friend" of mine went to buy a car with his cousin, now my friend has fully comprehensive insurance on his own car and his policy states he is allowed to drive any car privately insured as 3rd party.
They were pretty much 100% going to purchase the car so they handed over the money before taking it for a little test drive. My friend drove the car as his cousin had not yet transferred his insurance over (I have no idea why I asked this myself). Whilst driving they were stopped by the Police, apparently the car was uninsured. My friend, whilst in the back of the Police car, when asked who owns the car may have said he does..and so cue full checks (driving licence, address etc.) all coming back clear, the Police officer said the vehicle in question was not insured for my friend to drive, therefore his own policy was not enforceable and so he was served with NIP for driving whilst uninsured and the vehicle impounded.
Unfortunately at the time they were unable to get in touch with the gentleman who owned the car, although he did get in touch later in the evening and provided his insurance policy details which seem to prove the car was fully insured by him therefore meaning my friend's policy was valid as 3rd party.
My friend received his conditional offer in the post yesterday of £300 and 6 points but thinks it is unfair, he has been getting mixed advice with the Police saying speak to the DVLA, and the DVLA saying it isn't our problem.
Also taking advantage of free legal advice, some have said take the fine and points your argument is not strong enough in court, whilst others have said fight it.
PH has always given good advice so I thought I'd give a shout get some feed back from anyone been in the same situation?
Cheers fellas and Happy Easter to everyone
Anyway to the point,
A "friend" of mine went to buy a car with his cousin, now my friend has fully comprehensive insurance on his own car and his policy states he is allowed to drive any car privately insured as 3rd party.
They were pretty much 100% going to purchase the car so they handed over the money before taking it for a little test drive. My friend drove the car as his cousin had not yet transferred his insurance over (I have no idea why I asked this myself). Whilst driving they were stopped by the Police, apparently the car was uninsured. My friend, whilst in the back of the Police car, when asked who owns the car may have said he does..and so cue full checks (driving licence, address etc.) all coming back clear, the Police officer said the vehicle in question was not insured for my friend to drive, therefore his own policy was not enforceable and so he was served with NIP for driving whilst uninsured and the vehicle impounded.
Unfortunately at the time they were unable to get in touch with the gentleman who owned the car, although he did get in touch later in the evening and provided his insurance policy details which seem to prove the car was fully insured by him therefore meaning my friend's policy was valid as 3rd party.
My friend received his conditional offer in the post yesterday of £300 and 6 points but thinks it is unfair, he has been getting mixed advice with the Police saying speak to the DVLA, and the DVLA saying it isn't our problem.
Also taking advantage of free legal advice, some have said take the fine and points your argument is not strong enough in court, whilst others have said fight it.
PH has always given good advice so I thought I'd give a shout get some feed back from anyone been in the same situation?
Cheers fellas and Happy Easter to everyone
Hey up, sorry for the late reply burning the midnight oil on the night shifts and all.
I think there has been some mistake as to how I wrote the situation down that has some people confused although a couple of chaps have given good advice, I'll start again.
My friend- Mr A.
His cousin- Mr B
The car seller- Mr C
MR A went with MR B to buy a car from MR C,
They had in fact handed over money to purchase the car, not as a deposit to test the car (That was my mistake). So in effect the car was sold.
MR A has fully comprehensive insurance and so was driving the car home under the assumption MR C's fully comprehensive insurance was still valid hence giving MR A 3rd party cover.
Stopped by police who then claimed car was uninsured as ownership had transferred, regardless of v5 being sent off or not.
Car was seized and MR A given notice of driving without insurance.
Now I think the general opinion on the thread is my friend MR A was not insured at the time and so would you say he should accept the £300 fine and 6 points or still fight his case at court as he genuinely believed his was insured to drive the car.
Cheers fellas
I think there has been some mistake as to how I wrote the situation down that has some people confused although a couple of chaps have given good advice, I'll start again.
My friend- Mr A.
His cousin- Mr B
The car seller- Mr C
MR A went with MR B to buy a car from MR C,
They had in fact handed over money to purchase the car, not as a deposit to test the car (That was my mistake). So in effect the car was sold.
MR A has fully comprehensive insurance and so was driving the car home under the assumption MR C's fully comprehensive insurance was still valid hence giving MR A 3rd party cover.
Stopped by police who then claimed car was uninsured as ownership had transferred, regardless of v5 being sent off or not.
Car was seized and MR A given notice of driving without insurance.
Now I think the general opinion on the thread is my friend MR A was not insured at the time and so would you say he should accept the £300 fine and 6 points or still fight his case at court as he genuinely believed his was insured to drive the car.
Cheers fellas
Writing this on the smartphone so i apologise not being able to reply to specific questions.. just an update for anyone wondering.
My friend spoke to both party insurers.. the seller's and his own and both confirm the car was insured, although the seller's insurance was not happy he had continued to allow the policy to be live after so long. Yet nobody seems to be willing to put this in writing as evidence saying the motor certificates should be enough. Also my friend's insurance company claim there is no record of the Police ever contacting them in regards to checking whether he had cover at the time or not... surely the BiB wouldn't stitch him up for no reason?
My friend spoke to both party insurers.. the seller's and his own and both confirm the car was insured, although the seller's insurance was not happy he had continued to allow the policy to be live after so long. Yet nobody seems to be willing to put this in writing as evidence saying the motor certificates should be enough. Also my friend's insurance company claim there is no record of the Police ever contacting them in regards to checking whether he had cover at the time or not... surely the BiB wouldn't stitch him up for no reason?
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