Had an accident today (if you can call it that)...

ChaseMe

First off please bear with me as my situation is a bit difficult to explain. Secondly please do not judge as there has been no deception at all.

Nearly a year ago my (now ex) and i swapped cars because i lost my job and it was cheaper for me to insure myself on her car. We also exchanged documents too.

Six or so months later we split up. We decided to swap cars back and drive each others 3rd party only etc and keep the documents as they were.

I got pulled by the police for speeding (36 in a 30) and was fined £60 with 3 points. Fair dues was going slightly down hill out of town along a country road but nevertheless it was a 30 zone. The policeman checked insurance on the roadside and my insurance did indeed cover me.

The insurance runs out on the 15th of this month so we decided to change the vechicle documents back so when the renewal day came we could get our own fully comp policies. Still with me.?.lol.
We sent the documents off last monday.

Now today i took my father into the local town and parked in the local council carpark. When he opened the door he hit the door of the car parked next to me. It put a dent in the door. The owner of the car was literally walking twoards it as it happened and saw it. I put my hands up straight away and apologised etc. My dad also said sorry. The guy had a bit of a moan etc about how hard he worked for the car but was quite pleasent. I gave him my insurance details etc and we carried on into town to do our shopping.

When i got home something suddenly dawned on me, and believe me up until the accident i never gave this a thought, am i insured?.

I phoned up the dvla and the documents we sent off were processed thursday. I also did a check on that askMid site and that said as of today says both cars are insured.

What i don't get though is because we changed our details over dosen't that mean that i am no longer the registered keeper of my ex's car therefore canceling the insurance or the third party bit..?.

I later went back to the carpark to see if the car i hit was still there to see if we could pay for it without going through the insurance but it turns out all his moaning about it being his car was rubbish and it was actually a company car. I asked if we could sort something but he said he had e-mailed his office with my details about 30 minutes before. He did say they may not actually do anything as the dent although it's there you can't see it. (The car is White). I said ok fair dues nothing we can do now as you've informed head office.

Questions i have is..

Is my insurance nullified by changing the documents over?.

Do insurance companies actually check the registered keeper of a vechicle for a minor accident..? If they don't then i maybe ok as far as the insurance goes.

Am i liable for it if it was my father who did it?. Would the insurance company not say that the non fault party would have to claim directly from my dad?.

If not and it is deemed that my insurance is null and does not cover this, what will happen. Will the police be informed or do you think they may contact me direct?.

Please do not judge, as i said i never (nor my ex) even gave a thought that by changing the documents back we maybe canceling our insurance.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

what matters here, is that if your insurance is still upto date and you have TP cover? all aside and clear your mind of any document changes etc, do you still have TP cover on your own insurance? for whatever car you covered when you took out your policy.

if this was a car involving your own and anothers your third party cover would not extend to covering your own vehicle thus third party only, its a bit fool hardy to run this long without propper cover, and had you still been with your ex partner under the same roof, your cover may not be there at all and thus driving TECHNICALLY UNINSURED, because with most insurers, they do not allow you to drive a spouses vehicle or a vehicle rergistered at the same address under DOV third party cover.

saying that, and most off all you main question, you sent off the V5c to exchange the names over, if that vehicle is registered to YOU at the present time of the accident, and you have not switched your insurance over, your not insured at all as that car is now registered to you and if you look at your policy wording it may stipulate third party cover under drive other cars it may say that you may drive a vehicle that isnt registered to you belong to lease hire etc etc etc.

rodenal

*should* be fine. The car is still insured by the other party (your ex) and you still have third party cover to drive it - your answer on the insurance form about being the registered keeper of the opposite car has now changed and that may present an issue should they check this, but if you explain the situation (and have been honest about the other details i.e main drivers etc) then you should be ok

ChaseMe

rodenal wrote: »

*should* be fine. The car is still insured by the other party (your ex) and you still have third party cover to drive it - your answer on the insurance form about being the registered keeper of the opposite car has now changed and that may present an issue should they check this, but if you explain the situation (and have been honest about the other details i.e main drivers etc) then you should be ok

Hi.

Thanks for the answers.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

When we took the policies out, i was living at a different address to my now ex. I know what you say about fool hardy and i agree it was a risk but it just seemed the less expensive option at the time. Plus we didn't want to start the no claims again.

With regards to your last paragraph, this is what i am thinking, i am not insured. Honestly we only sent the darned things off Monday so that come this monday when we planned to both go fully comp again on our own cars we would actually be the registered keepers of the car when taking the policy out. It didn't occur at all that by doing this it may nulify the insurance, until today's events happened.

rodenal

Trouble is the same would apply to her wouldn't it?. By sending the documents off she is now not the registered keeper of the car she origionaly took the policy on. She dosen't drive the car anyway as he recently had a nasty non motiring accident and can't drive.

Is she open to prosecution for anything or just her insurance is now null?. If it is that is.

What i don't get is howcome that askMid site says both cars are insured if infact by changing the documents over has nullified the insurance?. Do the DVLA not update that database when processing the changes.?.

rodenal

As far as they are concerned nothing has happened, they wont constantly monitor for vehicle changes. I don't think you will have an issue as I doubt they will do or redo any ownership checks but you'll just need to wait and see. If it helps I know my old company car wouldn't have been repaired for door dings etc as the insurance paperwork and company excess wasn't worth it so you may hear nothing, as a company car driver you need to make sure the company is informed of any damage so you don't get the blame when the car goes back, but rarely is anything done unless its significant damage

ChaseMe

rodenal wrote: »

As far as they are concerned nothing has happened, they wont constantly monitor for vehicle changes. I don't think you will have an issue as I doubt they will do or redo any ownership checks but you'll just need to wait and see. If it helps I know my old company car wouldn't have been repaired for door dings etc as the insurance paperwork and company excess wasn't worth it so you may hear nothing, as a company car driver you need to make sure the company is informed of any damage so you don't get the blame when the car goes back, but rarely is anything done unless its significant damage

Thankyou for that.

So they don't usually pursue because of the excess?. Would i not then get pursued myself to pay it?.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

ChaseMe wrote: »

Hi.

Thanks for the answers.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

When we took the policies out, i was living at a different address to my now ex. I know what you say about fool hardy and i agree it was a risk but it just seemed the less expensive option at the time. Plus we didn't want to start the no claims again.

With regards to your last paragraph, this is what i am thinking, i am not insured. Honestly we only sent the darned things off Monday so that come this monday when we planned to both go fully comp again on our own cars we would actually be the registered keepers of the car when taking the policy out. It didn't occur at all that by doing this it may nulify the insurance, until today's events happened.

rodenal

Trouble is the same would apply to her wouldn't it?. By sending the documents off she is now not the registered keeper of the car she origionaly took the policy on. She dosen't drive the car anyway as he recently had a nasty non motiring accident and can't drive.

Is she open to prosecution for anything or just her insurance is now null?. If it is that is.

What i don't get is howcome that askMid site says both cars are insured if infact by changing the documents over has nullified the insurance?. Do the DVLA not update that database when processing the changes.?.

what rodenal is touching at whilst maybe it maybe "ok" the dates of change ofreg keeper here will conform a big part if you try and claim, by all means the insurers may pay out on it, but when they check (and they will) the change of registration and check whether or not you are covered at the time will rais a question, and you maybe chased for the insurers costs.

the documents wont have been processed yet by the DVLA, so you could pop on the phone tell your insurers they may have a cliam coming thier way, but when all is being processed what to say the DVLA process your v5c and it flags up the date of exchange? do the insurers stop the claim go forward and seek costs from you wich could be high? or flat rate deny any cover, these question will remain unanswered untill it happens, but my bet is on the insurers processing it, then claiming whatever back from the OP, the OP arranging his insurance now, adding the possible dink to his record will raise an eyebrow for the insurers to do more digging.

insurers point of veiw would be this:

customer notifies of fault accident, customer rings back a day or so later to arrange full comp insurance on the same vehicle involved in fault accident the same customer was involved in this may prompt a full investigation by insurers.

DOV cover may not have extended to driving your partners car even if you werent under the same roof, read policy wording, the only time this cover may have covered you is when you split up.

honesty is best policy in my book, tell you insurers put he ball in thier court, and see how it goes.

rodenal

Will depend on the company really, not worth the hassle in a lot of cases as dings under a certain size should be considered wear and tear so not chargeable on return. That and the fact the cars all get scratched during ownership anyway. They may be more strict but none of my previous companies were (had 3 different Co cars in the last few years)

ChaseMe

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

what rodenal is touching at whilst maybe it maybe "ok" the dates of change ofreg keeper here will conform a big part if you try and claim, by all means the insurers may pay out on it, but when they check (and they will) the change of registration and check whether or not you are covered at the time will rais a question, and you maybe chased for the insurers costs.

the documents wont have been processed yet by the DVLA, so you could pop on the phone tell your insurers they may have a cliam coming thier way, but when all is being processed what to say the DVLA process your v5c and it flags up the date of exchange? do the insurers stop the claim go forward and seek costs from you wich could be high? or flat rate deny any cover, these question will remain unanswered untill it happens, but my bet is on the insurers processing it, then claiming whatever back from the OP, the OP arranging his insurance now, adding the possible dink to his record will raise an eyebrow for the insurers to do more digging.

insurers point of veiw would be this:

customer notifies of fault accident, customer rings back a day or so later to arrange full comp insurance on the same vehicle involved in fault accident the same customer was involved in this may prompt a full investigation by insurers.

DOV cover may not have extended to driving your partners car even if you werent under the same roof, read policy wording, the only time this cover may have covered you is when you split up.

honesty is best policy in my book, tell you insurers put he ball in thier court, and see how it goes.

Sorry i must be reading your posts wrong. I am not trying to claim anything. Also the documents have been processed, i rang up the DVLA when it suddenly dawned on me i may not be insured. The confirmed the documents were processed on Thursday.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

ChaseMe wrote: »

Sorry i must be reading your posts wrong. I am not trying to claim anything. Also the documents have been processed, i rang up the DVLA when it suddenly dawned on me i may not be insured. The confirmed the documents were processed on Thursday.

it all depends as rodenal says, seeing as doc were processed your not covered to drive that car untill its insured in its own right by its owner/registered keeper as your DOV cover doest cover for cars already owned to or by the policy holder (because if that was the case i'd insure a fiesta and drive a focus RS on DOV). it will flag up insured by askmid as your ex holds an existing policy for it.

same way round for your EX if docs has changed she should insure her car on min of thirdparty under her own name.

yes sorry i did mention claim, but what i meant was inform and TP claim

ChaseMe

Could a mod delete this it's posted in the wrong section. (Sorry)