Getting car serviced by independent mechanic - what do you do about insurance?

buglawton

Do you ask to see his insurance certificate showing he's fully comp covered when taking your car to the MOT station for example?

What if he shows you it and then decides to cancel it?

Come to think of it, even at garages or branches of Kwik Fit, how do you check that they are insured properly?

straighttalker

Surely that's being overly cynical.

Any garage worth their salt will have the appropriate insurance to operate. If you're thinking like that, what's to stop the garage taking your car away and closing up shop?

missile

Most garages will have a sign displayed saying your car is driven at your risk.

photome

missile wrote: »

Most garages will have a sign displayed saying your car is driven at your risk.

Are you saying that most mechanic taking your car on a test drive and has an accident writes your car off and it's your fault

C_Mababejive

One thing i would say is that in my opinion a garage should inspect an incoming car in your presence and point out any damage. You should then inspect it on collection. Sometimes cars get damaged in garages, they say nothing and as soon as you drive it away,,well you have no proof.

salubrious

Out here in the real world, any half decent garage is going to be fully insured. I have a combined policy which covers all my insurance needs.

In relation to vehicles specifically - Any car in my custody is covered whether it be in the garage or out on the road.

Why would I cancel it? lol

arcon5

There's no way in hell a court would uphold a term holding you liable for their negligence. Nor is it common to see such signs.

I wouldn't bother checking insurance! In fact how far do you take it? Check each employee that may or may not drive the car is named? Check their driving history?

dacouch

photome wrote: »

Are you saying that most mechanic taking your car on a test drive and has an accident writes your car off and it's your fault

Reminds me of a client / friend whose Ferrari went into a Ferrari Specialist for a service.

The mechanic took it for a "Test Drive" on the A31 and lost control performing a 720 spin and ending up in a field with lots of the field inside the car.

The garage offered him a beaten up Fiat Punto as a replacement vehicle whilst their Insurers dealt with the claim.

He was not able to use a credit hire company for a replacement Ferrari due to it being a garage claim

fat-pudding

A garage will be covered by a motor traders policy, if they didn't then that's what you get for using back street garages.

I was covered as a named driver on such a policy when I worked in the trade, it even had a specific clause saying I could drive any car *without* the owners expressed permission (including the car being stolen as long as I had reasonable belief it wasn't stolen) this would cover times that a car may be moved from one garage to another to complete repair specialist repair work.

buglawton

arcon5 wrote: »

There's no way in hell a court would uphold a term holding you liable for their negligence. Nor is it common to see such signs.

I wouldn't bother checking insurance! In fact how far do you take it? Check each employee that may or may not drive the car is named? Check their driving history?

Then I suggest reading this 6th May article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11585053/Motorist-selling-car-is-banned-after-buyer-was-killed-during-test-drive.html

For the car owner, 12 month ban, large fine and loss of vehicle as a result of his lack of due diligence.
Hence why I posted here.
Not sure I have a solid answer yet.

Joe_Horner

buglawton wrote: »

Then I suggest reading this 6th May article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11585053/Motorist-selling-car-is-banned-after-buyer-was-killed-during-test-drive.html

For the car owner, 12 month ban, large fine and loss of vehicle as a result of his lack of due diligence.
Hence why I posted here.
Not sure I have a solid answer yet.

That's an entirely different situation.

A prospective buyer would not normally have insurance to drive any car so, as the owner, it's your responsibility to be sure they have before allowing them to drive it. If you don't take reasonable steps to check then you're in trouble.

A garage (especially somewhere like an MOt station) would be expected to carry a motor traders' policy which will cover them to drive cars that are with them for testing / repair. It's a standard part of setting up a garage.

So, as the owner, if you take it to a "reputable garage" rather than Joe Bloggs with a bag of tools in the council car park it would normally be reasonable to assume that at least the minimum basic insurance was in place.