Legal to drive? car bought at auction
Discussion
miniman said:
As long as car has current road tax, and your insurance allows 3rd party use of a vehicle not owned or hired to you, should be ok.
This is only true IIRC providing that the car itself has some other insurance in place.
No. That is wrong!
The person buying the car cannot drive it without either arranging specific cover (a trifle difficult as you are not always certain of what you will buy at auction, but most insurance companies are open on the phone until early evening) for the purchased vehicle or having a traders policy.
If he takes a friend who has insurance of his own on a car, then the friend can drive the car purchased at auction even though there is no policy covering the purchased vehicle when it leaves the auction.
The cover will be only 3rd party.
The cover will only be valid if the driver is driving with the new owners permission.
miniman said:
As long as car has current road tax, and your insurance allows 3rd party use of a vehicle not owned or hired to you, should be ok.
This is only true IIRC providing that the car itself has some other insurance in place.
Definately incorrect, none of my DOC policies have ever mentioned this requirement. However, AFAIK the insurance will only provide cover whilst you are driving it so probably on dodgy ground to park it in a public place.
Beware of driving back cars from auctions, many times I have seen numerous plod stopping cars leaving an auction. The number of tickets written out during these clmp downs must be impressive, virtualy no cars at auction have tax.
gone said:
ledfoot said:
As long as car has current road tax, and your insurance allows 3rd party use of a vehicle not owned or hired to you, should be ok.
This is only true IIRC providing that the car itself has some other insurance in place.
No. That is wrong!
The person buying the car cannot drive it without either arranging specific cover (a trifle difficult as you are not always certain of what you will buy at auction, but most insurance companies are open on the phone until early evening) for the purchased vehicle or having a traders policy.
If he takes a friend who has insurance of his own on a car, then the friend can drive the car purchased at auction even though there is no policy covering the purchased vehicle when it leaves the auction.
The cover will be only 3rd party.
The cover will only be valid if the driver is driving with the new owners permission.
I've had insurance which covered me (3rd party only) to drive others' cars before but it specified that the car must already be insured for use by the person giving permission to use the car... so to anyone reading this I advise you to read the (very) small print.
Unless that sort of clause is illegal? Gone?
towman said:
Remember the car will only be insured while you are in it!
Stop for a packet of fags and if the car gets shunted while you are in the shop, there is no insurance cover.
Well my policy says I am insured to "use" any other vehicle, not "drive".
In insurance, "use" applies from when you take charge of the vehicle to when you relinquish it, so you can stop to fill up with fuel, visit your gran's and park it on the road etc.
Gareth
My insurance broker cleared this up completely this afternoon. If I bought another car then my existing policy would give me temporary third party cover to drive it home but wouldn't cover me permanently. So that's cleared that up completely then, no possibility of any confusion there. I'm guessing that the 'temporary' nature of the cover relies on some sleight of hand wrt the time at which I report becoming the owner? All very dodgy if you ask me.
alexf said:
Unless that sort of clause is illegal? Gone?
I do not know where you got that clause from or whether you have misinterpreted the clause in your insurance.
You cannot have two policies of insurance running on the same car but you can have a car with no policy covered for the time it is being driven on a road through another policy not specifically and directly covering that vehicle.
The fact that your own policy covers you to drive the vehicle at third party risk is the basic minium the law allows.
1. It does not cover the vehicle, only your risks towards others while you are driving it.
2. The policy covering the vehicle (if there is one) will not cover any claim against negligence whilst you are driving it.
3. As Towman says, if you stop for a break, there will be no insurance on the car. If you stop and the vehicle is on a road or other public place (Garage forecourt/motorway service area/pub car park during licencing hours) and another vehicle runs into it, the owner (the person who bought it at auction) will be liable for allowing the vehicle to be on the road/public place with no insurance and you may well be liable for aiding an abetting the offence.
GreenV8S said:
My insurance broker cleared this up completely this afternoon. If I bought another car then my existing policy would give me temporary third party cover to drive it home but wouldn't cover me permanently. So that's cleared that up completely then, no possibility of any confusion there. I'm guessing that the 'temporary' nature of the cover relies on some sleight of hand wrt the time at which I report becoming the owner? All very dodgy if you ask me.
Be careful.
As soon as you become the owner i.e. you pay for the car and drive it out of the auction car park, you must have cover on it and you become the owner.
Most existing policies will not cover that vehicle.
I know as I had this issue when I started trading a couple of years ago. I had to get a traders policy as my own insurance on my own car would not cover the fact that I had just bought the vehicle. I asked the insurance company if they would cover a temporary period and they told me that technically I was the owner but if the car was not registered to me, they would not cover me on it.
The very best thing to do is to phone the insurance company/broker, explain what you want to do or intend to do and ask them if they will allow it under the existing policy you have with them.
It can go badly wrong if something untoward happens if you don't check first!!!
kevinday said:
Another solution would be to take your friend to the auction in your car, then he can drive the newly purchased motor back home if he wishes.
As long as he has insurance himself, he will be covered at 3rd party risk but only when the car is being driven. DO NOT FORGET THE CAR IS NOT INSURED AT ALL. Only the risk to other uroad users is covered when the friend is driving.
If the friend stops driving for any reason and the car is on the road or a public place, then there is no insurance and the owner and the friend are both liable for that offence should it come to notice of police.
Thanks for clearing that up gone makes sense to me.
He didnt buy one in the end anyway altough he seemed to bid on everything there.
I would have took him in my car but Im having car issues myself.
Anyway it seems the only legal way woul be to do as Gone has said and for me to drive it with his permision.
As for tax If stopped by a policeman would he use his deicretion if we could prove car was only just bought at an auction?
He didnt buy one in the end anyway altough he seemed to bid on everything there.
I would have took him in my car but Im having car issues myself.
Anyway it seems the only legal way woul be to do as Gone has said and for me to drive it with his permision.
As for tax If stopped by a policeman would he use his deicretion if we could prove car was only just bought at an auction?
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