Flat towing & insurance.
Discussion
[-]Hey guys
Long story short one of my cars has had a rather dramatic failure (engine is alright, coolant hose ruptured... there was a lot of steam). Luckly I was within 1km, mostly downhill, from my parents house to managed to push it to theirs (one of the advantages of a 1000kg car
). Long story short due to the location of the pipe, underneath the exhaust manifold at the back of the engine bay, which requires general disassembly to access I'd rather get it to my friends workshop, rather than take it apart on my folks driveway, workshop is about 6miles away. Since I don't have home start and my breakdown cover happens to be registered to my folks address (I move a lot, use theirs for correspondence) I'll need to arrange a tow myself.
Friend is perfectly willing to help me flat tow it off the back of my 4x4, however none of us have a clue if we would be uninsured. Both vehicles fully roadworthy, both have fully comp policies in my name, friend is not insured to drive other vehicles. If he was to be behind the wheel of the flat towed car would he be committing the offence of driving without insurance as the car was not moving under its own power? (of course putting me under the equal offence of allow him).
I have a feeling I know what the answer is going to be but I figured I would ask anyway just to be sure, trying to do things as frugally as possible. It's only 6 miles of sleepy 30mph sideroads. Worse case scenario we use his Fiesta in place of my 4x4, will be less comfortable towing but it'll get the job done without being potentially illegal.
EDIT: Just double checked, insurance policy on the 4x4 applies to towed trailers too, towbar declared, again no idea if this counts for flat towing another vehicle from a strap. [/-]
EDITEDIT: Answered my own questions lads, dug through 30 pages of policy booklet and found this:
[b]Your insurer will cover legal liability for the death of or injury to any person, and damage to property, caused by:
- You using or being in charge of your car;
- a trailer, broken-down vehicle or caravan while
attached to your car;[/b]
so 3rd party liability cover is given to broken down vehicles attached to my vehicle
The policy on the towed car (same company, same booklet) also has this clause:
[b]any person using (but not driving) your car, with your
permission, for social, domestic and pleasure
purposes;[/b]
I believe being in control of the vehicle well being towed (using, not driving) may apply in my scenario, in which case I have a 2nd element of cover to fall back on if the worst where to happen.
Mods can delete this if they wish, or leave it for information purposes (Insurance Co is Hastings Direct if anyone is looking for the same information)
Long story short one of my cars has had a rather dramatic failure (engine is alright, coolant hose ruptured... there was a lot of steam). Luckly I was within 1km, mostly downhill, from my parents house to managed to push it to theirs (one of the advantages of a 1000kg car
). Long story short due to the location of the pipe, underneath the exhaust manifold at the back of the engine bay, which requires general disassembly to access I'd rather get it to my friends workshop, rather than take it apart on my folks driveway, workshop is about 6miles away. Since I don't have home start and my breakdown cover happens to be registered to my folks address (I move a lot, use theirs for correspondence) I'll need to arrange a tow myself.Friend is perfectly willing to help me flat tow it off the back of my 4x4, however none of us have a clue if we would be uninsured. Both vehicles fully roadworthy, both have fully comp policies in my name, friend is not insured to drive other vehicles. If he was to be behind the wheel of the flat towed car would he be committing the offence of driving without insurance as the car was not moving under its own power? (of course putting me under the equal offence of allow him).
I have a feeling I know what the answer is going to be but I figured I would ask anyway just to be sure, trying to do things as frugally as possible. It's only 6 miles of sleepy 30mph sideroads. Worse case scenario we use his Fiesta in place of my 4x4, will be less comfortable towing but it'll get the job done without being potentially illegal.
EDIT: Just double checked, insurance policy on the 4x4 applies to towed trailers too, towbar declared, again no idea if this counts for flat towing another vehicle from a strap. [/-]
EDITEDIT: Answered my own questions lads, dug through 30 pages of policy booklet and found this:
[b]Your insurer will cover legal liability for the death of or injury to any person, and damage to property, caused by:
- You using or being in charge of your car;
- a trailer, broken-down vehicle or caravan while
attached to your car;[/b]
so 3rd party liability cover is given to broken down vehicles attached to my vehicle
The policy on the towed car (same company, same booklet) also has this clause:
[b]any person using (but not driving) your car, with your
permission, for social, domestic and pleasure
purposes;[/b]
I believe being in control of the vehicle well being towed (using, not driving) may apply in my scenario, in which case I have a 2nd element of cover to fall back on if the worst where to happen.
Mods can delete this if they wish, or leave it for information purposes (Insurance Co is Hastings Direct if anyone is looking for the same information)
Edited by caelite on Sunday 9th July 04:26
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