Insurance & Test driving a privatly bought used car

vaio

Interesting one....

Would it not be the case that if I give you permission to drive my car as long as you arrange (or have) insurance then surely if it subsequently transpires that you don't then you are guilty of the no insurance and also of taking my car without consent?

missile

vaio wrote: »

Interesting one....

Would it not be the case that if I give you permission to drive my car as long as you arrange (or have) insurance then surely if it subsequently transpires that you don't then you are guilty of the no insurance and also of taking my car without consent?

No - The offence is the same as if you were driving without insurance and "I did not know" is no excuse.

bigjl

I think the owner can be done for allowing the car to be driven without insurance.

msmyth18

I very much doubt all the times Ive been and test driven a car there was no valid insurance

bigjl

I think you would be surprised, but unless you are buying from a trader with proper traders cover, with the extra policy premium paid for demos, with the trader present then both parties need to check each others particulars, it is the owner that takes responsibility for allowing his car to be driven, my opinion would be that if the person comin to view wants to drive then they must show me some documentation, including an insurance certificate that allows driving of other vehicles 3rd party, otherwise I will drive. When I had traders insurance I would let them drive but only if they had a licence with them and I always came along.

The fact that msmyth18 has said that they doubt there was no valid insurance would tell me that she never checked, and therefore was probably not insured. Remember ignorance is no defence in law.

Quentin

bigjl wrote: »

including an insurance certificate that allows driving of other vehicles 3rd party...

These days, a certificate doesn't prove the policy it refers to is valid.

It may have been cancelled by either party since it was issued. And you couldn't trust a stranger not to turn up with a friend's certificate.

bigjl

Yes, but by asking for it an it being produced would then be a reasonable case for defence if when during the testdrive the car was pulled over by the Police. You can only check so many things, and don't forget that up until the MIB was introduced the police just asked you to do a 7 day wonder. Obviously you could check up on the askmid website to see that the car mentioned on the certificate was actually insured. And to be honest an Insurance certificate has never been guaranteed. it could be forged, might be better to never sell anything and just get a storage yard, yup that would be safe.

KillerWatt

vaio wrote: »

Interesting one....

Would it not be the case that if I give you permission to drive my car as long as you arrange (or have) insurance then surely if it subsequently transpires that you don't then you are guilty of the no insurance and also of taking my car without consent?

The onus is on the person who is "in charge" of the vehicle to ensure that anybody driving it is insured for the minimum 3rd party risks as laid down in law (as well as ensuring they have a licence to drive that class of vehicle).

The only way you would get away with not being done for aiding & abetting an offence of no insurance would be to make a statement saying that the person stopped did not have permission to drive.
Not only would that put them in the frame for a TWOC offence, but I suspect it would also be somewhat difficult to substantiate if you are sat next to the prospective buyer at the time.

KillerWatt

bigjl wrote: »

Obviously you could check up on the askmid website to see that the car mentioned on the certificate was actually insured.

The law does not require the car itself to be insured (if it did, then the spotty 17 year old would pay exactly the same as someone who has 30 odd years of experience for the same type of car), it is the driver who needs insurance to use a motor vehicle on a public highway.

vaio

missile wrote: »

No - The offence is the same as if you were driving without insurance and "I did not know" is no excuse.

I agree, “I didn’t know” is no defence but that’s nothing to do with what I said.

I said “if I give you permission to drive my car as long as you arrange (or have) insurance then surely if it subsequently transpires that you don't then you are guilty of the no insurance and also of taking my car without consent.”

If my car is driven without my consent then there is no requirement on me to ensure the driver is insured