Sold my car and now been told it's caused an accident. Help!

shaun_from_Africa

Johno100 wrote: »

I would think the logical thing to do would be to contact your insurers, tell them you have today sold car x and you will be in contact with them in a few days/weeks time when you have bought your new one. Any decent insurer shouldn't have a problem leaving the policy running in the interim.

Why would they be willing to keep a policy running when they have been made aware of the fact that the vehicle in question is no longer owned by the policyholder and they have no insurable interest in that vehicle?

EdGasket

Johno100 wrote: »

I would think the logical thing to do would be to contact your insurers, tell them you have today sold car x and you will be in contact with them in a few days/weeks time when you have bought your new one. Any decent insurer shouldn't have a problem leaving the policy running in the interim.

I thought the problem to which this thread relates is about 'keeping the policy running' after the car is sold.

Johno100

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Why would they be willing to keep a policy running when they have been made aware of the fact that the vehicle in question is no longer owned by the policyholder and they have no insurable interest in that vehicle?

So the policyholder can insure their 'new' car when they get it and they keep the business. To be clear I'm not saying the insurer should still be covering the sold vehicle, just that the policy should be allowed to run temporarily with no vehicle on cover.

EdGasket wrote: »

I thought the problem to which this thread relates is about 'keeping the policy running' after the car is sold.

Was it? The original poster was talking about a multi-car policy where they had had failed to tell the insurer they had sold one of the vehicles on cover and it was subsequently involved in an accident.

dacouch

EdGasket wrote: »

So why don't insurance companies just state that once you sell a car, they will cease to cover it whether you notify them or not? That would solve the problem.

Also how are you supposed to go about transferring insurance from one car to the next if you don't buy the next until you have sold the existing one, without cancelling and then starting insurance again which is expensive due to the admin charges and unfair refund policies on partially used insurance?

The law does not really allow them to do this.

It's governed by the RTA which requires the Insurer of a vehicle to issue a legal document confirming they're covering third party liabilities. This document is known as a Certificate of Insurance, the Insurers liability can only be removed under certain circumstances eg if the policy is cancelled by them or you etc

fierystormcloud

Surely if you have transferred ownership of the car, you would not be responsible for it?

And how come when you insured your new car OP, the insurance company didn't cancel the old one automatically?

Or did you go with a different insurance company?

EdGasket

fierystormcloud wrote: »

Surely if you have transferred ownership of the car, you would not be responsible for it?

And how come when you insured your new car OP, the insurance company didn't cancel the old one automatically?

Or did you go with a different insurance company?

I think the point is that if it is still covered for third party claims by an insurance company, then an injured party can seek compensation from the insurer.

On the second point I think the OP said it was a multicar policy and they hadn't cancelled this particular car.

OnanTheBarbarian

I am personally involved in assisting the biker Paul Duffy and the shenanigans affecting him when the new owner had a fatal accident and hit another vehicle and his insurers put the pressure on him as he had not cancelled his cover.

Representations have been made from the outset that this is a MIB matter and I am hopeful of getting a resolution in the next week or two. Certainly the third party claim was directed to the MIB after my interjection. His insurers are just useless at replying (due to being a foreign domiciled insurer who keeps changing which UK agents handle their claims)

Dacouch has given a good summary in his earlier posts on page 1 of this thread which I entirely agree with.

Personally, I was involved as the Claimant lawyer in another case where my client was hit by another vehicle which came up as insured on MID. So I hassled those insurers and we had the name of the driver. Turned out the lad driving the car had bought it from his mate, who had forgotten to cancel his cover, so operating on the basis of the car was insured and the driver identified, I pressed the relevant insurers (NIG) as RTA insurer. They would not have it and I commenced proceedings against the negligent driver intending to eventually revert to NIG with the judgment and force them to pay as RTA insurer.

Once proceedings were issued & served, the MIB and their lawyers Weightmans steamed in, added MIB as a 2nd Defendant to the proceedings and promptly settled my client's claim.