Technically Uninsured Accident

maisie_cat

If the at fault driver is uninsured the other driver's policy should cover the claims. In that sense it's no different from being hit by an oik in an unisured car. If they pursue your sister and she has any sizeable assets I would advise her to offload them. Then when the claim for £30k comes in she can go bankrupt. She's young by the sounds of it so has plenty of time to recover from the effects of the bankruptcy.

Exodi

I'm reading each response, thank you so much thus far.

To respond to some comments;

She changed her address with the DVLA (I know this because I helped her do it).

I would say she almost certainly changed address with her insurer when she moved as she showed me a letter from them about this situation.

I guess young is subjective. She is 27 and works for a supermarket. Except for a car worth maybe £3-4k, she has no assets. As you've said, when the £X0,000 bill comes through, she likely will need to explore her options...

Some of you seem to be suggesting she may still be insured (despite her insurer saying she's not)... is there something I should exploring here?

SHAFT

Exodi wrote: »

I'm reading each response, thank you so much thus far.

To respond to some comments;

She changed her address with the DVLA (I know this because I helped her do it).

I would say she almost certainly changed address with her insurer when she moved as she showed me a letter from them about this situation.

I guess young is subjective. She is 27 and works for a supermarket. Except for a car worth maybe £3-4k, she has no assets. As you've said, when the £X0,000 bill comes through, she likely will need to explore her options...

Some of you seem to be suggesting she may still be insured (despite her insurer saying she's not)... is there something I should exploring here?

I doubt the insurance company will speak to you. If you're happy they wont cover her for the crash then theres nothing to explore. She either changed the policy to cover her or she didn't. It will be on the insurance certificate.

lostelephant

A close family member of mine has dealt with a similar situation many years ago, using their car for a one off business trip whilst only being insured for social and commuting, and having an accident.

The insurance wouldn't touch it. As far as their concerned they weren't insured for the trip where the accident happened, therefore there's nothing they can do. Every cost associated with the claim went straight to the driver, totalling over £10,000 (which has now risen to over £20,000 due to interest but that's a whole other story). From what I remember they didn't get any points on their licence or a fine though, despite the police being called.

Belenus

AdrianC wrote: »

I don't think it's anything new - I'm pretty sure SDP/SDP+C/Bus has been the choice for as long as I can remember.

Perhaps the Bus will be the only choice available to this lady for a while if the Police do take action.

j2009

I would take note of Jimbo's response on page 1, if you can convince the insurer that it was an honest mistake they will ask for retrospective premiums and pay the claim.

However, if they wouldn't normally provide commuting cover (unlikely) or if they believe she deliberately misrepresented then they are able to refuse to do so.

The fact she changed her address suggests she did try to comply with the requirements of her policy. However, in my experience when you do this they always ask if anything else has changed eg mileage. If she answered that question as 'No' then that won't look good, if they didn't ask that helps her a little. She won't have a leg to stand on if they specifically asked about commuting (unlikely).

If you can't convince the insurer then it does get more complicated. The good news for the third party is the claim will be paid by the MIB, so her error does not affect them. The bad news is the MIB can seek to recover the costs from your sister.

If it was me I'd be calling the insurer and saying I didn't understand the difference and it was an honest mistake.

Depending on how that goes and if it looks like they are playing hard ball I'd request a copy of the call when the address was changed so that I could see if they asked about other changes. The rules about disclosure have changed so insurers are meant to ask about everything they need to know, there is less onus on the customers to disclose everything they think the insurer needs to know.

If they didn't ask and they still won't change their stance I would raise a complaint with them and look to escalate that ultimately to the FCA.

Which insurer is it?

SHAFT

j2009 wrote: »

I would take note of Jimbo's response on page 1, if you can convince the insurer that it was an honest mistake they will ask for retrospective premiums and pay the claim.

However, if they wouldn't normally provide commuting cover (unlikely) or if they believe she deliberately misrepresented then they are able to refuse to do so.

The fact she changed her address suggests she did try to comply with the requirements of her policy. However, in my experience when you do this they always ask if anything else has changed eg mileage. If she answered that question as 'No' then that won't look good, if they didn't ask that helps her a little. She won't have a leg to stand on if they specifically asked about commuting (unlikely).

If you can't convince the insurer then it does get more complicated. The good news for the third party is the claim will be paid by the MIB, so her error does not affect them. The bad news is the MIB can seek to recover the costs from your sister.

If it was me I'd be calling the insurer and saying I didn't understand the difference and it was an honest mistake.

Depending on how that goes and if it looks like they are playing hard ball I'd request a copy of the call when the address was changed so that I could see if they asked about other changes. The rules about disclosure have changed so insurers are meant to ask about everything they need to know, there is less onus on the customers to disclose everything they think the insurer needs to know.

If they didn't ask and they still won't change their stance I would raise a complaint with them and look to escalate that ultimately to the FCA.

Which insurer is it?

Why? If the OP's sister is liable her insurance will do that.

j2009

@Shaft, hoping I've understood your question correctly; why would the MIB pick up the claim and not her insurer?

Her insured wouldn't pay out to the third party as she was not insured. There are some rules around who the last insurer on risk was but I don't remember the rules around that.

However, the main point I was making is her mistake will not adversely impact the innocent third party and whether it is the MIB or the insurer (I believe the former) who picks up the claim they will seek to recover costs from her.

If I've misunderstood the question perhaps you'd be kind enough to rephrase it?

SHAFT

j2009 wrote: »

@Shaft, hoping I've understood your question correctly; why would the MIB pick up the claim and not her insurer?

Her insured wouldn't pay out to the third party as she was not insured. There are some rules around who the last insurer on risk was but I don't remember the rules around that.

However, the main point I was making is her mistake will not adversely impact the innocent third party and whether it is the MIB or the insurer (I believe the former) who picks up the claim they will seek to recover costs from her.

If I've misunderstood the question perhaps you'd be kind enough to rephrase it?

They will.

The MIB is for uninsured loss. If the third party has comprehensive insurance that would cover their damage.

j2009

No, if she is uninsured her insurer will cover none of the losses for any party. Comprehensive just refers to the breadth of cover, but the issue here is whether there is cover at all.

If she is uninsured then the MIB would pick it up.

If her insurer picks up any of the cost then she is insured (insurers aren't charities so they don't pay out unless they are contractually required to do so), in which case the original post was about nothing!