Uninsured driver has accident
Uninsured driver has accident
Author
Discussion

Supercilious Sid

Original Poster:

2,700 posts

191 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
quotequote all
Folks I am asking this on behalf of a friend (honest).

If someone has an accident that is not their fault and the other driver admits liability where do they stand if they discover their own insurance has recently expired? Are there any avenues to go down as an alternative?

Im probably not looking for your feelings about uninsured driving if I may pre-empt that. The situation is what is is and Im looking for routes to redress.
Thanks

kiethton

14,648 posts

210 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
quotequote all
They would be paid out by the at fault’s insurance company as normal, may not be in the best position to haggle for max value in a write off situation though.

The police may (but are unlikely) to be informed

Supercilious Sid

Original Poster:

2,700 posts

191 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
quotequote all
Thank you very much.

TwigtheWonderkid

49,088 posts

180 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
quotequote all
kiethton said:
They would be paid out by the at fault’s insurance company as normal,
^^^THIS.

The fact that you were uninsured, drunk, wanted for murder etc makes no difference. You've been hit by a negligent party, and are entitled to recompense just like everyone else.

Supercilious Sid

Original Poster:

2,700 posts

191 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
^^^THIS.

The fact that you were uninsured, drunk, wanted for murder etc makes no difference. You've been hit by a negligent party, and are entitled to recompense just like everyone else.
Thank you both.

untakenname

5,357 posts

222 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
I always thought if you were over the DD limit then you were automatically at fault as your reaction times and coordination/hand eye movements would be impaired?

I'm surprised if the insurers would pay out fully for an uninsured car as it wouldn't have an agreed value.

TwigtheWonderkid

49,088 posts

180 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
untakenname said:
I always thought if you were over the DD limit then you were automatically at fault as your reaction times and coordination/hand eye movements would be impaired?

I'm surprised if the insurers would pay out fully for an uninsured car as it wouldn't have an agreed value.
Sorry, but just not true.

If you get hit up the rear in a queue of traffic whilst drunk, how have your reaction times contributed to the accident?

Are car doesn't have a different value courtesy of being uninsured. It has the same market value, regardless of being insured or not.

Teddy Lop

8,301 posts

97 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
How does it work in practice though?

I had a minor coming together when quite inexperienced with a guy driving a brand new scania skip wagon - I was at fault technically although he was at fault of being a collossal arse who smugly decided to drive into a lane incursion accident rather than avoid and make angry gestures, horn use, rolly eyes etc like any reasonable person - he went absolutely apest, way out of proportion, funny thing was it turned out he wasn't insured as he went to the yard and was trying to get the company I worked for to pay him direct, they just fell about the place laughing and told him "give us your insurance details and we'll sort it out pal"

What you gonna do, if insurance co see an uninsured they'll f*ck you so bad long term the payout is probably immaterial.

TwigtheWonderkid

49,088 posts

180 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
Teddy Lop said:
How does it work in practice though?

I had a minor coming together when quite inexperienced with a guy driving a brand new scania skip wagon - I was at fault technically although he was at fault of being a collossal arse who smugly decided to drive into a lane incursion accident rather than avoid and make angry gestures, horn use, rolly eyes etc like any reasonable person - he went absolutely apest, way out of proportion, funny thing was it turned out he wasn't insured as he went to the yard and was trying to get the company I worked for to pay him direct, they just fell about the place laughing and told him "give us your insurance details and we'll sort it out pal"

What you gonna do, if insurance co see an uninsured they'll f*ck you so bad long term the payout is probably immaterial.
If you are involved in a non fault claim, you have every right to claim off the guilty party directly without involving your own insurers. Same procedure applies if not insured. Claim directly off the tp. If they refused to pay or refused to involve their insurers, issue a summons for the amount of your claim.

Sure, they call the police and report you for driving without insurance , but that's not what we are discussing here. I doubt the police would take any action anyway, as they weren't involved at the scene of the accident.

Eddieslofart

1,328 posts

113 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
If there insurance is expired, the vehicle shouldn’t have been on the public highway, would the others insurance co not argue that point ?

TwigtheWonderkid

49,088 posts

180 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
Eddieslofart said:
If there insurance is expired, the vehicle shouldn’t have been on the public highway, would the others insurance co not argue that point ?
No. There are penalties / punishments in law for driving uninsured. Being driven into by a negligent driver is not one of them.

Just because someone is driving uninsured does not give you or me the green light to not pay attention and crash into them.

D1ckie

741 posts

220 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
No. There are penalties / punishments in law for driving uninsured. Being driven into by a negligent driver is not one of them.

Just because someone is driving uninsured does not give you or me the green light to not pay attention and crash into them.
If the car is uninsured, then it shouldn't be on the road..... and if its not on the road then you don't hit them, no accident no claim.

I'd be surprised if an insurance company would payout to a non insured driver


untakenname

5,357 posts

222 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
It doesn't alleviate you from getting points or criminal charges if the crash was your fault but surely your insurer wouldn't pay out for the damage to the uninsured car?
Had a friend who years back borrowed his dads car (without permission and uninsured) and was involved in a crash that wasn't his fault, the car was written off but there was no payout as his father refused to file charges and get the son done for twoc.


TwigtheWonderkid

49,088 posts

180 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
D1ckie said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
No. There are penalties / punishments in law for driving uninsured. Being driven into by a negligent driver is not one of them.

Just because someone is driving uninsured does not give you or me the green light to not pay attention and crash into them.
If the car is uninsured, then it shouldn't be on the road..... and if its not on the road then you don't hit them, no accident no claim.

I'd be surprised if an insurance company would payout to a non insured driver
Oh ffs! If it's got a tyre at 1.5mm it shouldn't be on the road either. You think that if someone smashes into your car with its 1.5mm tyre, you can't claim off them! Don't talk tripe.

If you are negligent, there are consequences to that and if you damage someone's property, you or your insurer pays. The fact that the victim of your stupidity had a bald tyre, or was uninsured isn't relevant.

TwigtheWonderkid

49,088 posts

180 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
untakenname said:
It doesn't alleviate you from getting points or criminal charges if the crash was your fault but surely your insurer wouldn't pay out for the damage to the uninsured car?
Had a friend who years back borrowed his dads car (without permission and uninsured) and was involved in a crash that wasn't his fault, the car was written off but there was no payout as his father refused to file charges and get the son done for twoc.
That's his choice. If it was a non fault claim, he could have pursued the tp or their insurer. He chose not to to protect his son from possible criminal charges.

If my son stole my car and was hit by a negligent tp, I might do the same. But if my son was paralysed in the non fault accident, and was due a £3m payout, then I would claim against the tp. If the police then took action against my son for car theft, so be it.



D1ckie

741 posts

220 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
D1ckie said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
No. There are penalties / punishments in law for driving uninsured. Being driven into by a negligent driver is not one of them.

Just because someone is driving uninsured does not give you or me the green light to not pay attention and crash into them.
If the car is uninsured, then it shouldn't be on the road..... and if its not on the road then you don't hit them, no accident no claim.

I'd be surprised if an insurance company would payout to a non insured driver
Oh ffs! If it's got a tyre at 1.5mm it shouldn't be on the road either. You think that if someone smashes into your car with its 1.5mm tyre, you can't claim off them! Don't talk tripe.

If you are negligent, there are consequences to that and if you damage someone's property, you or your insurer pays. The fact that the victim of your stupidity had a bald tyre, or was uninsured isn't relevant.
27K posts, are they all as full of st as this one?? Get a life

Dromedary66

1,924 posts

168 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
You/your friend should figure out how much it would cost you/them to repair the car without involving insurance and then compare that to running the risk of getting 6 points + a driving without insurance marker on the file were that to somehow be uncovered during the claim process.

TwigtheWonderkid

49,088 posts

180 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
D1ckie said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
D1ckie said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
No. There are penalties / punishments in law for driving uninsured. Being driven into by a negligent driver is not one of them.

Just because someone is driving uninsured does not give you or me the green light to not pay attention and crash into them.
If the car is uninsured, then it shouldn't be on the road..... and if its not on the road then you don't hit them, no accident no claim.

I'd be surprised if an insurance company would payout to a non insured driver
Oh ffs! If it's got a tyre at 1.5mm it shouldn't be on the road either. You think that if someone smashes into your car with its 1.5mm tyre, you can't claim off them! Don't talk tripe.

If you are negligent, there are consequences to that and if you damage someone's property, you or your insurer pays. The fact that the victim of your stupidity had a bald tyre, or was uninsured isn't relevant.
27K posts, are they all as full of st as this one?? Get a life
Can you point me to a single piece of law or court case that confirms that, if you are driving uninsured, or drunk, or breaking some other motoring law, you are excluded from claiming against a negligent party who damages your property or causes you injury. Perhaps you think it's ok to crash into a car parked illegally on a double yellow line, since after all, it shouldn't be there!

There's only one person full of st, look in the mirror for further clues.

KungFuPanda

4,641 posts

200 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
D1ckie said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
D1ckie said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
No. There are penalties / punishments in law for driving uninsured. Being driven into by a negligent driver is not one of them.

Just because someone is driving uninsured does not give you or me the green light to not pay attention and crash into them.
If the car is uninsured, then it shouldn't be on the road..... and if its not on the road then you don't hit them, no accident no claim.

I'd be surprised if an insurance company would payout to a non insured driver
Oh ffs! If it's got a tyre at 1.5mm it shouldn't be on the road either. You think that if someone smashes into your car with its 1.5mm tyre, you can't claim off them! Don't talk tripe.

If you are negligent, there are consequences to that and if you damage someone's property, you or your insurer pays. The fact that the victim of your stupidity had a bald tyre, or was uninsured isn't relevant.
27K posts, are they all as full of st as this one?? Get a life
Can you point me to a single piece of law or court case that confirms that, if you are driving uninsured, or drunk, or breaking some other motoring law, you are excluded from claiming against a negligent party who damages your property or causes you injury. Perhaps you think it's ok to crash into a car parked illegally on a double yellow line, since after all, it shouldn't be there!

There's only one person full of st, look in the mirror for further clues.
Former Defendant insurance RTA lawyer here and Twig is correct.

If you’re uninsured and not at fault, you can still claim everything that a normally insured person can and that includes damage or write off of the uninsured vehicle and personal injury and any other associated losses.

The vehicle being uninsured doesn’t affect it’s value either. Why should it?

The only head of claim you can’t claim for is hire of a replacement vehicle. This is due to the fact that the hire vehicle will be insured so the aggrieved party would be in a better position pre accident for the duration of the hire.

KungFuPanda

4,641 posts

200 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
quotequote all
To advise the OP’s friend, if liability has truly been admitted by the third party, the easiest option is to approach the third party insurer directly.

If liability isn’t an issue, they will arrange to repair your pals car at no cost to himself. They probably won’t even ask about his own I surnce details. I’ve personally got my car fixed by third party insurers on two occasions and was never asked about my own insurance details.