Insurance for garage employee driving car to MOT

Bryony84

Slightly long story but my car was up for sale just after Christmas, as I had purchased a new car. A part ex was offered on it against a car my boyfriend was buying. Unfortunately the sale on that car fell through as after investigation my boyfriend wasn't happy with the car he had intended to buy.

Now I'm back to stage 1 with the car in the garage at home, not taxed or insured and the MOT due at the end of Feb.

I don't think I stand much chance of selling the car for a decent price without a new MOT and noticed the local MOT centre doing an offer on the cost of the MOT as well as free collection and delivery from/to home address. So my question is this: If an MOT garage employee is collecting and delivering the car, do I need to insure it for the day so that they can do this or is the car insured under their garage/trader policy? Day insurance is coming in at around £38 which seems pretty steep so if I don't need to get it, I won't. Car will be going up on Ebay once the MOT is sorted.

vax2002

Ask the garage !

Bryony84

Garage said it would be covered under their insurance policy but just a bit concerned as to whether that's right.

Lum

Your insurance policy wouldn't cover the garage mechanic to drive it anyway.

Bryony84

No, this is true, but I read somewhere about a garage employee getting pulled by the police because the clients car they were driving was not on the insurance database and the owner got in trouble because of it. The car is not parked on public roads and I applied for sorn (because I couldn't afford to insure 2 cars while waiting for it to sell again) so I don't think I'm breaking any laws from that point of view.

http://www.pattersonlaw.co.uk/news/975/106/Mechanic-was-driving-my-car-and-insurance-had-lapsed.php

Lum

Yes, the car wont be on the MID and it will get pulled by the police if the mechanic happens to drive past an ANPR setup, however it is not an offence to not be on the database, it's an offence to not have insurance.

Of course there are some jobsworth coppers out there who for some reason believe that database is the 100% accurate truth directly from Jesus, but realistically speaking unless you're using a garage that requires a motorway or A-road run to get to, this wont be an issue.

The reply (tiny blue text that I didn't see the first time) on the very article you linked confirms this.

Bryony84

Thanks Lum, the garage is about 5 minutes away from my house, it does require driving over a motorway junction to get to, but not actually going on the motorway. I wonder if it is worth getting it in writing from the garage to confirm that it will be fully covered under their insurance, at the moment I only have it verbally over the phone.

ukmike

The garage will probably use their trade plates on your car,no problem then about tax/insurance/mot.

Lum

They can only get you on "causing or permitting" the offence of driving without insurance and for that they'd have to prove that you reasonably knew that the garage was not insured.

Unless you're sending the car to some bloke running a workshop out of the back of his 70s-era Sherpa van in his back garden, it's reasonable to assume they are insured. You can even cite this very thread as evidence that you checked the garage's insurance status in advance.

s_b

OP you need to read the post from ukmike because this is the only correct answer to your problem
if the trade plates arent on and your car is stopped by the police its highly likely it will get taken off the garage driver because
a ..........he wont have his insurance document on him
b............its not showing on the mid
c........... you have the vehicle on sorn which means the vehicle cannot be on the road unless its on the mid and going to a place of test

colino

Hi OP, I realise that the motor trade get a lot of stick, but if you don't even believe when they tell you directly that they are insured, it doesn't really set you off on a good relationship. Why not use someone else that you trust or has been personally recommended?