Can you drive an uninsured car if you have own insurnance?

Can you drive an uninsured car if you have own insurnance?

Author
Discussion

CoolHands

Original Poster:

18,498 posts

194 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
If a vehicle not belonging to you is uninsured, but taxed and mot'd, can you drive it on your own insurance (if fully comp)? (i.e. you own a car and have insurance).

I thought the vehicle had to already be insured with someone, but on searching found this on answers.com? I thought the 'driving with owners permission' bit only worked if the car you want to drive is already insured.
answers said:
In the UK - it would depend on what type of motor insurance you have. If the policy is comprehensive car insurance - typically you will find that you are insured to drive another car so long as that car has a valid MOT. This is the general rule - but you should check the small print on your motor policy to see what it includes and call your motor insurer to check if you are covered. See the link entitled "accident car insurance" for a description of the different types of car insurance in the UK.

kaf

323 posts

146 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
If your policy covers you to drive a vehicle not owned by you, with the owners permission then yes.

But it will be third party liability only.

Like it says, read your policy AND carry it(the certificate) with you as the car will show up as not insured on MID and plod might stop you.

jimxms

1,633 posts

159 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
Pretty sure the answer was no to this?

I thought the car had to be fully insured, even if you are allowed to drive other cars TPFT on your cover?

Magic919

14,126 posts

200 months

Friday 27th January 2012
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Try searching on PH. Done to death.

tr7v8

7,186 posts

227 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
jimxms said:
Pretty sure the answer was no to this?

I thought the car had to be fully insured, even if you are allowed to drive other cars TPFT on your cover?
Don't keep regurgitating this crap as it becomes the accepted word. It depends on the DOC cover, some specify that the vehicle must have its own insurance, others don't.
However bear in mind that once the DOC driver leaves the vehicle it is then uninsured & if left in a public place could get done!

Red Devil

13,055 posts

207 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
If a vehicle not belonging to you is uninsured, but taxed and mot'd, can you drive it on your own insurance (if fully comp)? (i.e. you own a car and have insurance).

I thought the vehicle had to already be insured with someone, but on searching found this on answers.com? I thought the 'driving with owners permission' bit only worked if the car you want to drive is already insured.
answers said:
In the UK - it would depend on what type of motor insurance you have. If the policy is comprehensive car insurance - typically you will find that you are insured to drive another car so long as that car has a valid MOT. This is the general rule - but you should check the small print on your motor policy to see what it includes and call your motor insurer to check if you are covered. See the link entitled "accident car insurance" for a description of the different types of car insurance in the UK.
This has been done to death on here before. Some insurers put a restriction on DOC cover such that the other vehicle must have a current valid policy in force. Others don't. So answers is correct - read the small print of your policy.

There is the further issue that the other vehicle, being currently uninsured, should be declared SORN and there has been considerable debate on here about whether the VED is still valid in the eyes of the DVLA.



LOGiK

1,084 posts

187 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
Additionally to this, driving it around will draw attention and legally speaking tax without insurance is now an offence so even if your policy is worded saying along the lines of

"The policyholder will have third party liability cover for the use of vehicles not belonging to him but which he has the consent of the owner to drive and that have
i)a valid, in date road tax disc
ii)a valid, in date MOT certificate"

and you are consequently legally insured to drive it, being pulled over may result in a letter being sent to the owner for having an uninsured vehicle with road tax.

saaby93

32,038 posts

177 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
tr7v8 said:
jimxms said:
Pretty sure the answer was no to this?

I thought the car had to be fully insured, even if you are allowed to drive other cars TPFT on your cover?
Don't keep regurgitating this crap as it becomes the accepted word. It depends on the DOC cover, some specify that the vehicle must have its own insurance, others don't.
However bear in mind that once the DOC driver leaves the vehicle it is then uninsured & if left in a public place could get done!
Although its right about check your own policy to see if it needs the car to be insured separately, there may be a SORN issue.
If the car isn't SORN what's it doing not insured?

jimxms

1,633 posts

159 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
tr7v8 said:
Don't keep regurgitating this crap as it becomes the accepted word.
Return your knickers to their previously untwisted position!

LOGiK

1,084 posts

187 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
saaby93 said:
lthough its right about check your own policy to see if it needs the car to be insured separately, there may be a SORN issue.
If the car isn't SORN what's it doing not insured?
Well, from my perspective, I might leave a vehicle taxed after insurance had lapsed if I intended to sell it shortly after insurance had finished. Obviously I would SORN if it wasn't sold quick enough.

Following that view, perhaps OP wants to buy a car and it's easier to get it back on his own insurance than making a call at the time of purchase to complete insurance on it.

I also don't know how trade insurance works with taxed cars, presumably traders don't need to declare SORN yet the car would not had a policy attached.

CoolHands

Original Poster:

18,498 posts

194 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
ok so to conclude the thread, the individual needs to check their own insurance as it depends on their own T&Cs. Thanks, - no need for some people to be so aggressive about it.

pablo87

19 posts

159 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
im just going to clear this up....

If your insurance lets you drive any car on a third party basis then it has to be a car thats INSURED.. if NOT you will receive a nice IN10 if caught!!!

All vehicles that are NOT in use have to be sorned if not insured....



SS2.

14,455 posts

237 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
pablo87 said:
im just going to clear this up....

If your insurance lets you drive any car on a third party basis then it has to be a car thats INSURED.. if NOT you will receive a nice IN10 if caught!!!
banghead

Galsia

2,167 posts

189 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
tr7v8 said:
Don't keep regurgitating this crap as it becomes the accepted word. It depends on the DOC cover, some specify that the vehicle must have its own insurance, others don't.
However bear in mind that once the DOC driver leaves the vehicle it is then uninsured & if left in a public place could get done!
I once had two cars, one uninsured as I was trying to sell it. I rang up my insurer (Adrian Flux) who started that I would be insured if I drove the uninsured car, however as soon as I left the vehicle it was illegal if parked on the road. Essentially this meant that every journey had to start and end at my house, making the whole thing pointless. smile

SS2.

14,455 posts

237 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
Galsia said:
I once had two cars, one uninsured as I was trying to sell it. I rang up my insurer (Adrian Flux) who started that I would be insured if I drove the uninsured car, however as soon as I left the vehicle it was illegal if parked on the road.
Probably more to it than that - DOC cover would almost certainly not apply to other vehicles owned by the policy holder.

LOGiK

1,084 posts

187 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
pablo87 said:
im just going to clear this up....

If your insurance lets you drive any car on a third party basis then it has to be a car thats INSURED.. if NOT you will receive a nice IN10 if caught!!!

All vehicles that are NOT in use have to be sorned if not insured....
Only if the policy states that the other vehicle must also be insured. If it does not say that, the policy will cover you for any vehicle.

To that extent, if the policy wording does not list tax or MOT as a prerequisite for driving a vehicle, those will not be necessary for the insurance to be valid, however, the police have separate offences for these for which you'd be liable.

The probability is your policy will require insurance, MOT, tax and consent of the owner. That's not guaranteed.

saaby93

32,038 posts

177 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
pablo87 said:
I'm just going to clear this up....

If your insurance lets you drive any car on a third party basis then it has to be a car thats INSURED.. if NOT you will receive a nice IN10 if caught!!!

All vehicles that are NOT in use have to be sorned if not insured....
Nearly wink
It's the registered keeper that has to make sure a car is SORN or insured and suffer suitable penalties

The OPs insurance policy will say whether not a car needs to be insured for his DOC cover to be in place, for which he'll be liable for another set of penalties.

Whether the OPs DOC cover clears the RK from needing insurance for that 20 minutes is a moot point- what happens outside that 20 minutes?

There's also a danger of forgetting what insurance is for. DOC cover is very basic. There's always a risk of anything. So even if youre legally covered to drive someone else's car what happens when the unlikely prang occurs? Are you going to pay out of your own pocket to repair/replace it?


littleredrooster

5,523 posts

195 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
1. Why does this topic crop up almost every week?
2. Why do people insist on giving misleading or plain incorrect answers when they are only guessing? (Yes pablo - that's you!)
3. Why can't posters be bothered to do a simple search which would reveal dozens of threads on the subject, some of which contain good information?
4. Why can't people even spell 'insurance' correctly?




Rant over, no swearing.

CoolHands

Original Poster:

18,498 posts

194 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
littleredrooster said:
3. Why can't posters be bothered to do a simple search which would reveal dozens of threads on the subject, some of which contain good information?
I did a search for 'uninsured car' and this is the results (if it shows up):

http://pistonheads.com/gassing/search4.asp?h=0&amp...

none of them are relevant to my question, and indeed my thread doesn't even show up. That's how I ended up with an answers.com answer. ok? rolleyes

nigel_bytes

557 posts

235 months

Friday 27th January 2012
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
I did a search for 'uninsured car' and this is the results (if it shows up):

http://pistonheads.com/gassing/search4.asp?h=0&amp...

none of them are relevant to my question, and indeed my thread doesn't even show up. That's how I ended up with an answers.com answer. ok? rolleyes
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/749.html