fathers car impounded help

mustbemoreorganised

Hi, my son has been driving my fathers car with his permission for the last week whilst he has been in hospital having surgery for bowel cancer. On 16th December my son was stopped by the police, he is insured fully comp but as he is under 21 apparantly he is not insured to drive any other car. It does not state this on his insurance certificate. The recovery company said only the insured could collect the car from the pound and refused to let me collect it. My father has been released from hospital today and I will take him tomorrow to collect his car. The fee is £150 plus £20 a day storage, does anyone know if it's worth trying to argue about the storage fee, anyone had any success with this.

Finally, my son was told by the police to expect 6 points and a £200 fine. My son called his insurer who said he would have been informed on the telephone that he couldn't drive any other car, he disputes this and they cannot produce the telephone recording. Any advice, is it worth getting a solicitor, many thanks

Inactive

Read the policy.

Becciboobah

Unless it categorically states on the certificate of insurance that the policyholder may drive with the consent of the owner a private motor car not belonging to them, then they aren't insured to do so. This will be writen in the box that says 'Persons or classes of persons entitled to drive'. I'm pretty sure a solicitor will tell you that as well. Shows the importance of thoroughly reading insurance documents!

newfoundglory

As Becciboobah says. My Admiral insurance certificate states clearly and in no uncertain terms that I am allowed to drive other vehicles third-party (as long as my driving license permits me to do so of course).

mustbemoreorganised

thanks, I will get my son to bring his paperwork round later (he lives with his gf). Would have been on the ball much earlier but doing two visits a day at the hospital has pretty much taken up my time.

Do you think it's worth trying to reason with the impound people re the storage fee- I don't want to expose dad to any undue stress, cheers

jackieb

mustbemoreorganised wrote: »

thanks, I will get my son to bring his paperwork round later (he lives with his gf). Would have been on the ball much earlier but doing two visits a day at the hospital has pretty much taken up my time.

Do you think it's worth trying to reason with the impound people re the storage fee- I don't want to expose dad to any undue stress, cheers

Your son is going to pay for it, isn't he? You won't expect your dad to pay for it, are you?

mustbemoreorganised

No, I will pay for it - son will pay me back. It will upset dad if I query the cost and they say no, he's quite fiesty and I don't want to upset him.

jackieb

mustbemoreorganised wrote: »

No, I will pay for it - son will pay me back. It will upset dad if I query the cost and they say no, he's quite fiesty and I don't want to upset him.

Ah, that's understandable.

jackieb

How long since your son passed his test? If it's less than 2 years he'll lose his licence if he has 6 points on it.

hartcjhart

mustbemoreorganised wrote: »

No, I will pay for it - son will pay me back. It will upset dad if I query the cost and they say no, he's quite fiesty and I don't want to upset him.

in that case I think you will have to 'bite the bullet' and pay

jackieb

It's a pity your dad hadn't phoned his own insurance and put your son on his insurance for just the short time he'd be driving it. It's a shame as your dad probably thought he was just doing your son a favour. My dad did this for 2 weeks before my nephew was due to sit his test, so he could get extra practice in. My nephew paid my dad the difference. It wasn't that much, even though he was a learner driver. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.