Getting Car Out Of Police Compound

Joe_Horner

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

Many thanks for all your suggestions however, what it has come down to is this - The compounds/police are saying that "in an effort to tackle fraudulent policies, the car ownership must tie up with the insurance details".
.

It doesn't matter if the Police or compound are saying that, because they CANNOT make conditions under Force policy outside what the law states for any reason. It is NOT down to the police to make law, only to enforce what's been passed by parliament.

The law, as I posted above, is quite clear. The car can, and must, be released if either the owner (or RK) or someone nominated by them appears with insurance to cover them driving the car. Note that many policies will specifically exclude recovery of cars from impounding.

If the Police try to impose conditions beyond that then they're holding the car illegally and he should be taking action against them.

Incidentally, having seen the documents, have they accepted that he was covered by the policy when stopped, or are they proceeding with charges against him as well as holding the car?

Notmyrealname

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

He is the the registered keeper of his vehicle - Mr. B
He works for Business X.
He is a consultant for Business X.
He is listed as an authorized name under Business Xs traders policy

Not that simple.

Under pretty much every traders policy I know, you have to go online and enter the registration number of the vehicles you want covering under that policy and they must be the property of the business. The exception is test driving a vehicle prior to purchase.

Also unless the policy also has social, domestic and pleasure use, he would only be covered under it carrying out tasks for business X, not when driving to Tesco to do his shopping.

raskazz

forgotmyname wrote: »

Few questions not answered here.

The person is named on the business policy so covered to drive vehicles on that policy. Yes.

But does the business policy cover employees private cars? Thats the issue i think.

I know my old firms insurance stopped covering employees cars when they did errands.

I think you have hit the nail on the head here. I reckon the fleet policy will cover occasional business use - i.e. employees using their own cars for the purposes of the business - but not any other use. If so, the vehicle would have also to be insured in it's own right for SDP and any other use to which it is put - like removal from being impounded!

Ah - I see it is actually a trade policy - in which case it's because most trade policies don't cover employee's cars.

sho_me_da_money

Ok so the issue now is, he cannot get his vehicle back whilst its impounded because 1) He is the registered keeper and 2) The Insurance is covered under a different name. In order to get his car back, these two pieces of information must match.

So, he has 2 options,

Do what they're saying:

Buy insurance in his own name that covers him for 30 days (£350) + pay the fee/fine (£150) + pay £20 for each day its in the compound (currently £80).

The vehicle is worth £900.....

My question is (potential option 2) is there any legal reason why he cannot transfer the ownership of the vehicle in the Business name whilst its in the compound?

dacouch

If he's thinking of transferring ownership and then expecting to be covered by the Motortrade Insurance don't rely on it.

By the sounds of the type of trader he is, I would expect him to be with one of the bottom of the market MT insurers. As others have mentioned they exclude vehicles not owned / registered to the dealer and will normally exclude private use for employees. If he registers the car to the dealer and there is then a claim. The MT insurers will look for this type of thing (They normally ask for log books of cars in claims) and will often decline the claim due to them viewing the car as not the motortraders. It will mean damage to his own vehicle won't be covered, they would probably pay any third party claims they're liable for but would then recover this from the Motortrader or possibly the driver.

You really need to properly check the MT policy as they are designed not to cover employees vehicles, there's normally a lot of exclusions relevant to it.

sho_me_da_money

dacouch wrote: »

If he's thinking of transferring ownership and then expecting to be covered by the Motortrade Insurance don't rely on it.

By the sounds of the type of trader he is, I would expect him to be with one of the bottom of the market MT insurers. As others have mentioned they exclude vehicles not owned / registered to the dealer and will normally exclude private use for employees. If he registers the car to the dealer and there is then a claim. The MT insurers will look for this type of thing (They normally ask for log books of cars in claims) and will often decline the claim due to them viewing the car as not the motortraders. It will mean damage to his own vehicle won't be covered, they would probably pay any third party claims they're liable for but would then recover this from the Motortrader or possibly the driver.

You really need to properly check the MT policy as they are designed not to cover employees vehicles, there's normally a lot of exclusions relevant to it.

Mr. DACOUCH!!! AKA THE MAN WHO SAVED ME FROM QUINN!!!

How are you dude??

Ok, you're observation in this regard is correct however, the issue my younger brother is facing is that he simply cannot afford to get his vehicle out the compound and is swaying towards cutting his losses and letting them scrap it.

When contemplating this, the owner of the business posed a suggestion that might help him avoid the temporary cover costs involved (£350 for 30 days cover)

I understand the ongoing risks (as you have pointed out) but I need to know the following:

1. Can he legally transfer ownership of his vehicle to the Motor Trader in question under the current (impounded) circumstances?

The reason I ask this is because the compound said this is not allowed and did not provide any reason why.

2. If he is allowed to transfer the vehicle under the current circumstances, can the owner of the business go in and get it out? or will the Police try on some other funny !!!!!!s rubbish?

3. We know of another Motor Trader, so if option 2 is risky, can he sell his vehicle or transfer ownership of his vehicle to the new motor trader, who will add the car under their policy and own it? If this is possible, will this company then be able to produce the documents and retrieve the vehicle.

Now im gonna be a straight shooter with you and just tell you flat out that he can't afford the current costs and he needs to get the car out at the lowest cost possible. Once the car is out, he is going to put it up for sale immediately and start afresh - buy a new car and have it insured in his name with his own policy rather than going under a motor traders one.

The last point I wanted to ask was - IF the above is not possible, do you know of any good cheap insurers who will cover him with a clause covering the release of seized vehicles from a compound?

I am with Privilege Insurance for my own personal car and they DO actually have a clause that will cover seizures. As you're the best advisory I know in the Insurance game, I was wondering if you knew of anyone else we could consider?

Off course, if this can be avoided through executing one of the above plans, this would be the cheapest however, the grey area surrounding this is any legalities if any.

I appreciate your time in reading this and look forward to your response.

Many thanks!

Sgt_Pepper_2

Has he been done for no insurance?

What's his new premium going to be with 6-8 points?


Or will this see his licence revoked?

sho_me_da_money

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

Has he been done for no insurance?

What's his new premium going to be with 6-8 points

Or will this see his licence revoked?

Taking into account the pending 6 points the insurance cover for 30 days in his name will cost around £350.

Yes he has been done for Insurance as the vehicle is covered under the Motor Traders Policy however, the car is registered in his name/address meaning, the insurance is invalidated as it only covers cars OWNED by them.

Had this have been clearer from the beginning, he would have obviously transferred ownership of the vehicle to the business.

Hard lesson learned for everyone.

PsiDOC

Yep. You can't buck the system.
On a positive note however there's 1 less uninsured car on the roads.

dacouch

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

Taking into account the pending 6 points the insurance cover for 30 days in his name will cost around £350.

Yes he has been done for Insurance as the vehicle is covered under the Motor Traders Policy however, the car is registered in his name/address meaning, the insurance is invalidated as it only covers cars OWNED by them.

Had this have been clearer from the beginning, he would have obviously transferred ownership of the vehicle to the business.

Hard lesson learned for everyone.

There's no guarantee that if he'd transferred the ownership that his claims would have been paid. If you think normal Insurers are good at finding small print of throwing out claims then MT Insurers at this end of the market are the apex of it.

They know all the tricks and as mentioned before will ask to see the log book with the view to discovering whether it's still in the employees name or was before being transferred into the trader's name. They will also often ask to see contracts of employment or payslips / tax documents to confirm whether the employee is actually an employee or just a friend.

The chances are the employee is only covered for using the vehicle in connection with the trader's business eg not for private use.

The policies often exclude cover for damage or loss for vehicles parked within 1000m of the traders premises if they don't have the correct cover. This would affect your brothers car if he lives or it;s damaged /lost whilst parked within any exclusion zone (If the policy included one).

Your brother is not the first to be caught out by this, I've seen it either in the same circumstances as your brother or following a claim on many many occassions.

Motortrade policies are designed for motor traders business, they are specifically designed to not be covering people such as your brother