Car accident in friends car with permission - no DOC, who is liable for cost?

sparky1983

Hi was wondering if anyone can help on this as I have a friend who is in a bit of trouble.

She was driving her friends car along a motorway and got clipped by a car who failed to stop which sent the car into a spin and it hit and damaged the central reservation aswell as an estimated damage of £2600 to the car. The car is alleged to be worth about £3500 so it may be scrapped. When my friend got asked to drive the car by the insured owner she said that her insurance covered my friend to drive (silly I know but my friend believed her, shes a bit crazy!).

Her friend now wants the full cost of the car paid or at least the money to repair which is just an estimate, and I expect she will also be asked to pay for damages to the barrier on the public highway, and there may also be some slight physical damage done to the owner of the vehicle.

The Police have already given her 6 penalty points and a fine of £200. I know my friend is at fault for driving the vehicle as it was not insured even though she thought it was. My friend is insured on her own vehicle but does not have a DOC (drive other car) clause.

What do you guys think should happen? It seems quite likely their friendship has come to an end over this so any comments would be appreciated.

golfball13

Sounds like a bit of a mess. Strictly speaking I would say your friend (the driver) is legally responsible for the damage. I know that she was told that her friend's insurance covered her, but I don't think that would make a difference.

I'm thinking how her friend would go about getting the money from her. I would've thought the insurance companies wouldn't be interested, and the only other way might be through the courts. If that's the case, the bit about being given permission could help her out.

However I'm no expert! It might be worth getting her to speak to a solicitor who specialises in motoring claims, some do a free initial meeting which might give her some better information on where to go from here.

Sorry I couldn't help more

Rob

Quentin

The owner lead your friend to believe she was insured to drive the car. So the owner is guilty of allowing the car to be driven by a driver the owner knew to be uninsured and is lucky not to have been prosecuted for it!

The owner is responsible for all this, but is there more to this story? Why did the owner want your friend to drive it?

minimoneysaver

Am I right in thinking that the owner of the car was the passenger?

sparky1983

Thanks for your replies. It was just a daytime outing and the owner said she wasn't used to driving long distances so my friend naively said she would drive. With regards to the value of the vehicle I guess that is determinded by the book price?

sparky1983

minimoneysaver wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that the owner of the car was the passenger?

Yes, sorry!

neilmcl

Surely it was up to the OPs friend to make sure that she was indeed insured, rather than simply take the unreliable word of the car owner. So what happened to the third-party vehicle which supposedly was the cause of all this - is anyone investigating?

neilmcl

sparky1983 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. It was just a daytime outing and the owner said she wasn't used to driving long distances so my friend naively said she would drive. With regards to the value of the vehicle I guess that is determinded by the book price?

Did your friend offer to drive or was she asked?

minimoneysaver

Did the police attend the accident? If so, they will have a record of who was in the car and who was driving. In other words, why would the insured driver & car owner, be sat in the passenger seat? Surely the police would think this insane!

Quentin

The owner asked your friend to drive the car, and told her she was insured to do so. In the event the owner lied to your friend, so is responsible for the consequences of lying.

forgotmyname

Would need to take the friend to the small claims court i think max £3000?

If its clear cut they were in the wrong, If there is any dispute i dont think you can use it?

But taking her to court will cost money, Do they have the means to actually pay up?