not covered for car insurance?

sh0597

I don't know if you have any come back if you can prove that the cover offered was different to the details entered on the comparison website.


In a "fair" world if it could be proven that somebody wanted a named driver on a policy and the insurer would have offered cover, they would honour the cover if the policy holder paid any difference. In the real world, an insurer isn't going to bend over backwards to make themselves liable for a claim.


If the OP is using the husband's third party only cover then they need to make a claim against the third parties insurer for damage to their own car. Unfortunately unless the 3rd party admits liability promptly, they will have to pay for any repairs and reclaim the costs from the 3rd party. I don't know the best way to record repair costs, or how to handle a car that would be declared written off.

Aretnap

Windy8 wrote: »

Why am I not also considered to be a third party and therefore covered under his insurance? Or how can I make a claim?

You're not treated as a third party because damage to the car you're driving is specifically not covered under driving other cars cover. If the accident had been your husband's fault then I suppose technically he would have been liable for compensating you for the damage to your car, but it's not a liability that his insurance would cover for him, so you'd be left with trying to claim against him personally. Which would be fairly pointless unless you were estranged.

Your insurer won't pay for the damage because the person driving the car wasn't overread by your policy, and your husband's insurers won't pay because they were covering him on a third party only basis. If there was nobody else involved you'd be stuffed, but fortunately as the other driver drove into your car while it was stationary claiming against his insurance should be relatively straightforward. You can contact his insurers directly (if you don't know who they are you can find out from https://www.askmid.com for a token fee), or if they're not helpful enough for your liking you can look for an accident management company to deal with them for you.

The other option is to make a complaint against your insurer and/or the price comparison site because of the way they mucked up your application, but that would potentially take a long time to resolve, and as you didn't check the details properly by your own admission I don't imagine you'd be in a very strong position in the first place.

thenudeone

Aretnap wrote: »

If the accident had been your husband's fault then I suppose technically he would have been liable for compensating you for the damage to your car

No - An Insurance company will only pay to third parties when they are legally obliged to do so, under the RTA1988 - the only exception to this which I can think of is that most polices also cover third party damage and injuries on purely private land (which you are not required to have insurance for).

The law does not require you to have insurance for damage caused to a vehicle which you are driving (even if it's not your own), so such cover isn't provided even if (which isn't always) the insurer will cover third party risks if you borrow someone else's car.

Road Traffic Act 1988
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/145
(4)The policy shall not, by virtue of subsection (3)(a) above, be required—
..
(c)to cover liability in respect of damage to the vehicle

For exactly the same reason, if you have an accident in which the only injury is to the driver, and/or the only damage is to the vehicle they are driving (even if it's not theirs), the accident doesn't need to be reported to police.

Ultimately it's up to people to make their own arrangements about recompense to people they lend their cars to.

In this case, since the vehicle was hit whilst stationary, the other driver's insurer will probably agree that their driver was at fault and pay for your damage.
As already stated - you should contact them directly and co-operate if they offer to repair your car.

Aretnap

thenudeone wrote: »

No - An Insurance company will only pay to third parties when they are legally obliged to do so?..

Erm, the part of my post that you quoted had nothing to do with insurance companies. The point was that if someone borrows your car and carelessly crashes it they're likely to be liable for the damage to your property. Whether or not they have insurance for that liability is a completely separate matter - in this case they don't for the reasons you point out. You could still sue them personally for the damage - but if the person is your husband then it would be a fairly pointless exercise, and furthermore it sounds like the accident wasn't his fault anyway.

thenudeone

Point taken. My response covered points made in earlier posts.

It was fairly clear from the first post that the OP was looking for an insurance company that they could claim from (rather than their partner personally!).

AdrianC

sh0597 wrote: »

I don't know if you have any come back if you can prove that the cover offered was different to the details entered on the comparison website.

No, because there is a duty on the purchaser to ensure that the details are correct before finally purchasing.

InsideInsurance

Windy8 wrote: »

No one has claimed responsibility although the other driver skidded into him whilst he was stationary. The other car looked written off, and now my car has been declared not repairable. Why am I not also considered to be a third party and therefore covered under his insurance? Or how can I make a claim?

In what way skidded? Car following you braking and skidding into the rear?

Car coming in the opposite direction aquaplaning into you?

The fact your vehicle was stationary means that almost certainly you carry no liability unless you'd parked on the apex of blind bend or such and even then you'd only be partially liable.

The question will be if the other car is liable or not? In most cases of skidding the answer is yes due to the requirement to drive appropriately for the conditions but there can be rare occasions where accidents happen and there is no liability. I remember was waiting at traffic lights in winter and the roads were icy. The car in front of me was stationary, break lights on and all of a sudden it slide sideways down the camber of the road and hit a parked/ abandoned car. Almost certainly in that case there is no liability. Black ice, diesel etc all possibly also could lead to fights.


Unless you can prove you asked for your husband to be a named driver then you are on thin ice for that one. Your husbands DOC cover will provide protection from a claim from the TP should they attempt to hold him liable but as he is TPO only they will only be defending claims made against him not pursuing anything against the other party.

An accident management company may provide credit hire and assist in the process but if there is a question on liability they may not be interested.