Please help, friends boyfriend wrote off my car!

Paul_the_Painter

This is the wording on my insurance certificate regarding driving other cars.

The Policyholder may drive any motor car not owned by him/her nor hired to him/her under a Hire purchase agreement. Excludes use to recover a motor vehicle other than that represented by the registration mark shown above, that has been seized by or on behalf of any Government or Public authority.

What this means is that - I can drive any other car - as long as it's not mine - so insuring a 1.1. Fiesta and buying and driving a Ferrari is out.

I also can't use this insurance to pop down to the impound yard and pick up my mate Dave's car that is uninsured when he got it impounded for having no insurance.

But I can use it to test drive an uninsured car I saw on eBay last week.

With regards to Melly35's problem, I would make it clear to the "friend" that "she broke it, she bought it", I'd also look at making a complaint to the Police before they scrap the car that -

1. You have reason to believe that the BF was driving
2. You did NOT give him permission to do so
3. That if the BF was driving an offence has been commited
4. That you require that the crime is investigated

This will not help you replace the car.

An alternative is to point out to the friend and BF the above, and tell them that this might in fact all go away and cease to be a problem to them if a sum of money in the region of £2500 were to appear in your hand.

BeenieCat

Has your (ex) friend not said she will claim on her insurance?

I'm assuming she thinks she was insured to drive the car (and she might have been, depending on her policy?), so if she's told the police she was driving why can't she tell the insurance that?

Kilty_2

BeenieCat wrote: »

Has your (ex) friend not said she will claim on her insurance?

I'm assuming she thinks she was insured to drive the car (and she might have been, depending on her policy?), so if she's told the police she was driving why can't she tell the insurance that?

She'll only be covered 3rd party though - no insurer I know of will provide fully comprehensive insurance on a DOC clause.

InaPickle

What disgusting behaviour on behalf of your 'friend'!

If you think that she was taking the wrap for her BF as she thought that she would be covered on her insurance in much the same way that you did, if you apply some pressure to her, she might crack, as she's probably shocked that she isn't covered. I guess this all boils down to how far you are prepared to take it. Given that you probably don't want to be friends with the girl anymore, perhaps seeks some advice at the CAB/solicitor and tell her you are going to pursue her through the small claims court for the price of the car repairs, plus storage and towing etc. At this stage, just bluff (convincingly) and see what she says: if she says that it's not her fault cos she wasn't driving then ask her what choice do you have as she named herself as the driver to the police, then wait and see if she either accepts that she will have to cough up, or tells the police what really happened. (Might take a few days of mental turmoil). The pursue it, if you wish. Personally, like pgilc1, I would be making life as hard as possible as well.

Also, someone mentioned about speeding tickets. If any do come through, I'm told they include a photo of the person driving. If it's possible to see if it was him or her (and/or the passenger), then present that as evidence to the police and tell them you definitely want to pursue the matter, and that that's the proof he was driving.

dacouch

Kilty wrote: »

She'll only be covered 3rd party though - no insurer I know of will provide fully comprehensive insurance on a DOC clause.

There is an Insurer that offer Comprehensive Cover for driving other cars, they are a very niche Insurer who only cover very affluent people.

The Insurer is Chubb and the Comprehensive driving other cars extends to cover all of the named drivers, they also agree a value on each of the families cars each year and offer like for like courtesy cars

DKLS

What has the friend got to say for herself?
Or is she avoiding all contact?

the182guy

Wow what a monster let down by the Police. According to what OP said they've shown nothing but incompetence. No wonder there is a thread on here about the benefits of moneysaving by not bothering with insurance or a licence.

bluphoto7

Sounds from these posts like this has been a case of naievety on the part of both the op and the friend.

Op says she has had this friend for 22years! That sounds like a pretty good friend to me. Do you really want to let one evening of poor judgement on both your parts ruin a lifelong friendship?

Yes, you're going to have to share the cost of this mistake. Hopefully you'll be able to pick up a cheap runabout, and your friend should give you something each month to cover whatever you agree on.

You let your friend use it and you naively thought she was covered fully comp on any car. She probably also thought the same.

Letting her boyfriend drive it was a huge mistake. She needs to come clean about that. Even if she didn't know he was banned, he certainly did and needs to pay the price.

Young people often let infatuation override the more important things in life. Fibbing about who was driving probably seemed like the easiest way to cover the cost of your car.

Your friend just needs to decide between rescussitating your 22year friendship or covering up for this guy.

It's a screw up of monumental proportions which is going to cost you all dearly. The only thing good to come out of this is the test if your friendship.

Rgds
Guy

Melly35

DKLS wrote: »

What has the friend got to say for herself?
Or is she avoiding all contact?

She is avoiding all contact by telephone, in person & text but she did email me to say that "she's really sorry, her head is done in with all this, she's got no money, she'll get in trouble if she tells police she lied (perverting justice etc), telling them won't get me my car back so what's the point, if she could go back in time she would but she can't...." & thats about it really, no reply to any emails I've sent her since then & although 22yrs is a long time, I think the friendship can't continue mainly due to the way she's been since it happened, avoiding me, not offering to help buy me a new car, cover costs for breakyard etc. Her b/f's not even had to guts to contact me to say sorry, they're both just hiding from me!

catflea

Maybe it would be worth sending her an email with something along the lines of

"I know you've been stressed by this and I'm sure you realise I have been too. At the end of the day its only a lump of metal and can be replaced but a friendship of 22 years is a big thing to lose, I cant afford to write the car off and I know you cant afford to replace it but I'm sure we could agree on something"

Then post something meaningful about how things have been in the past so its not ending on a "gimmee money...."

Gotta be worth a try right?