Car impounded for no insurance, was told by insurance company that we were insured

mikey72

xxkitcatsxx wrote: »

..........We have no insurance at the moment due to it becoming invalid when the officer suspended his licence as he was then no llonger a licence holder technically. We had insurance right up to that point from 10 am that morning and were told by the insurance company that he was free to drive away after specifically asking if it had all gone through!

Who told your insurer though? And they cannot simply cancel, and delete your account they have to inform you first.

xxkitcatsxx

stormbreaker wrote: »

If the police have not gone to the bother of contacting the insurance company then what has happened to the insurance that was taken out when purchasing the car? Or have you contacted them and explained the situation?

It was made invalid when the officer suspended the licence. We were covered up to that point.

We have contacted the insurance company and are putting through a complaint as we were told that it was fine to drive away, meaning that we thought it had all gone through onto the database as well.

We had no sympathy from them, obviously! But when you are told you are fine to drive home, you naturally believe that you are!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

you cannot buy temp insurance to release a vehicle from the pound you will be sent away with a you must purchase a full term insurance.

contact the first insurance company of who'm you changed vehicle details with, you must explain to them that there there is a genuin mistake by police of mistaken identity and the license isnt revoked.

xxkitcatsxx

stormbreaker wrote: »

As I and others have said, there is something not quite right here. You are coming across as being genuine with genuine concerns. Can I ask, where you there? Or are you getting the story third hand from your boyfriend?

I was not there but know all the details as we have paperwork from the officer.

I was told within minutes of this happening as we live around the corner form where he was pulled over, and we have gone over this numerous times since friday afternoon.

I have all the details and went to the station with him this afternoon.

xxkitcatsxx

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

you cannot buy temp insurance to release a vehicle from the pound you will be sent away with a you must purchase a full term insurance.

contact the first insurance company of who'm you changed vehicle details with, you must explain to them that there there is a genuin mistake by police of mistaken identity and the license isnt revoked.

We do not yet know the actual situation surrounding the licence as we need to contact dvla on tuesday when the offices open to discuss this and they may well turn around and suggest that they keepit suspended until he goes to court which could take months.

However, if we contact them on tuesday and they say no problem and reinstate it then we will be able to get full insurance for the car and pick it up ourselves. Temporary car insurance was designed for stuff like this.

Full car insurance small print says you cannot pick up someone elses car from an impound lot.

Rover_Driver

xxkitcatsxx wrote: »

Sorry, meant Tuesday not tomorrow!

We will hopefully have insurance in place on Tuesday depending on what the dvla say about the licence. If not, temporary insurance will be taken out by my dad or by another relative to take to the station and then to the impound lot to collect the car.

At £50 a day, we will not be leaving the car there longer than Tuesday as on top of £150 fine we have been charged all weekend regardless of the fact that the impound is shut all weekend and for the bank holiday!

We have no insurance at the moment due to it becoming invalid when the officer suspended his licence as he was then no llonger a licence holder technically. We had insurance right up to that point from 10 am that morning and were told by the insurance company that he was free to drive away after specifically asking if it had all gone through!

Check temporary insurance terms and conditions carefully, some do not cover recovering cars that have been seized, and a police officer cannot suspend a driving licence, nor can he tell DVLA to revoke one, it's the other person who has a problem with their licence..

mikey72

Just to be clear, the online account worked ok, and it when you contacted the insurers and told them the details, then they deleted the account?
Or did it just disappear without you telling them?

gravitytolls

forgotmyname wrote: »

But the issue is not with the insurance policy or company saying he is not insured. Its the police saying he is not insured.

Possibly due to having his licence suspended? Only they and the driver will know that exactly.
Either the policeman got it badly wrong and will have his knuckles rapped or there is some good reason he thought the driver didnt have a licence?

As the OP said complaining to the insurer, I dont think that will really help. They have done nothing wrong. They insured the car/driver. Not showing on the database but i wouldnt expect it to so soon after taking it out.

Obviously a reason why they didnt bother checking the insurance.
The bit about another driver and suspended licence seems to backup my theory.

The OP keeps saying the police suspended his licence, Which that cannot do at the side of the road.

So some information seems to be crossed or missing somewhere.

Presumably because they think he is someone else it is the someone elses licence who is suspended, so they have impounded the vehicle, because they believe they've caught the bloke with the suspended licence.

stormbreaker

xxkitcatsxx wrote: »

I was not there but know all the details as we have paperwork from the officer.

and went to the station with him this afternoon.

Being told third hand a number of things can get lost in translation. When you accompanied him to the station were you there ALL the time the police were in conversation with him?

Insurance companies CAN insure you over the phone with immediate effect and again as has already been said, the relevant databases will not be updated immediately. If there is any doubt over the insurance esp. given the circumstances that the vehicle has just been purchased, again as has already been said the police have the option of contacting the MIB which is not always practical from the roadside or giving the person the opportunity to produce their documents within 7 days.

dacouch

The Insurer cannot cancel or revoke the Insurance policy over the phone on the say so of a third party. There are processes they need to go through that could not be done over the phone.

If the was no valid driving licence, it's possible the policy would not cover him however this would be subject to policyholder not holding a correct licence. If he has the correct licence then the Insurance is valid until either the policyholder cancels the policy or the Insurer cancels but this would normally require seven days notice in writing (It will say in your policy how the Insurer cancels and how much notice they give).

As a few posters have pointed out, most temporary policies specifically exclude covering you to release a vehicle from the pound and state this on the certificate. You will find most explain this in their FAQs