Help! Just had my car impounded!!!

benkil

Hi, not sure if anybody will be able to help me on here but heres the situation...

I have just been stopped by the police for driving with no insurance. I was under the impression I was insured but after the officer made a few phone calls to my insurers they cancelled my policy about a month ago due to me missing 2 payments.

The have now impounded my car, I need to get it removed asap as they will charge me about £20 for every day it stays there.

It will take a few days for me to sort insurance out so I wont be able to pick it up as I have no insurance yet, so can my friend who is fully comp on his vehicle drive it out of there aslong as I am with him and give him permission to drive it as I am the registered keeper??

Thanks for your help.

Quentin

Worth a try - but your friend's "fully comp" insurance won't be fully comp to drive your car - does his certificate include legal cover for driving other cars?

If not, his insurance is no good for this plan.

See if you can get your policy reinstated, as getting insurance after a policy has been cancelled by your insurer won't be straightforward.

Taxi09

Nope - this won't work as far as am aware, the vehicle itself needs to have insurance against it, the third party is 'fully comp' but that only covers he/she to drive any other insured vehicle.

Hope this helps.

*MF*

Be very very careful!

Your friend needs to contact his Insurer, explain the position in full, and specifically ask if he has - or - can have cover - and only when he is sure (preferably with a cover note for your vehicle) should he drive your car.

Repeat - be very careful - why?

Read this:

Insurers have closed a loophole that allowed uninsured drivers to retrieve their impounded vehicles.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) stepped in after it emerged that a provision in fully comprehensive insurance policies was being abused.
Police said individuals had been able to use the 'driving other cars' provision to reclaim vehicles that had been impounded.

The provision is intended to allow anyone with a fully comprehensive policy to drive another car with the owner's permission.

New wording for policies issued by the ABI will now specifically exclude the driving of impounded vehicles.

"Since the police highlighted this abuse we have acted quickly to stamp it out," said Justin Jacobs, head of motor insurance at the ABI. "This wording will help the police to make full use of their powers to tackle the menace of these illegal, often dangerous, motorists."

From here:

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/money/news/transport/insurers-close-impounded-cars-loophole-$1054467.htm

benkil

I think the best thing I can do is get my dad to have the car and insure it in his name. The car is only worth about £400 so the amount of money its gonna cost me to reinsure, pay to have removed and the police fine will add up to around £500.

If my dad insures it in his name today and registers it in his name at a later date then he will be able to drive it from the impound, he will then have to register it with the dvla in his name.

Does this sound like the best idea??? This will teach me to monitor my direct debits better.

dogbot

You will need to provide proof the police that you have signed over ownership of the vehicle. I would call the police before you do anything to ask exactly what is required - they will (ok, should) respect the fact that you are trying to do things legally (though probably won't be very polite!).

Having someones name on the DVLA log book doesn't mean legal ownership of the vehicle as an item of private property, only helps the DVLA/police etc know where it is kept and who owns it.

Quentin

You may be underestimating the cost of all this as just £500. (The minimum fine/fixed penalty will be £200 + 6 points, and getting new insurance will be much more than the premium you were supposed to pay!)

newsman

i contacted yourkey at yourkey.info/home and now get free legal cover for life,its their job to sort out any legal problems you have concerning your car,i,ve not had to use them yet but got their address from a forum on mse so assume theyre worth using.i know this probably wont help you now but might be of use in the future,as you will save money on insurance policy.