Own fault car accident turns out I am not insured

cpfcstar

I recently had an accident, the person in front of my did an emergency stop whilst someone abruptly pulled out in front of them to turn off. I realised too late braking, slowed to less than 10mph and tried to go off road and hit the rear side of their vehicle, damage to both our cars was scrapes/scratches. They had a child in the back. I swapped details at the scene and checked that the person and their child were both well in their selves, they were.

I hadn't heard anything. I asked the other party if they had wanted to settle privately because it wasnt that severe, they've text me they've already gone to their insurance. My insurance hadn't contacted me (I thought they always contacted people if they were implicated in an accident?) So I rang them, they began taking my details and told me that I wasn't insured to drive the car because its primarily under my Husband, so they couldn't discuss a policy with a car that I am not insured on. They also said they are unable to see whether a claim has been made by another party for several weeks. (Is this right? I thought it was immediate!?)

The car I was driving was my partners, I had joined their policy with my own car and asked on the phone with the insurer whether I was covered to drive other peoples cars. The answer was given as yes. However now I rechecked the policy, and I am insured to drive other cars as long as it is not owned by my partner. This was never stated at point of purchase of the insurance, but I digress. I am a policy holder but on another car.

I strongly think their car will be written off now. What happens from here? I have a few questions:

- Do either insurance company report me to the police for no insurance? I understand the gravity of this, all I can say was it was a genuine misunderstanding.

- What happens with an at fault claim driver that doesn't have insurance, are they pursued for the money as an individual then?

- Is there anything I can do from here for mitigation purposes?

-I've since read that my husbands insurance could probably be forced to take the claim and then they will look to reclaim those costs directly from me and my husband. What if this is a huge sum? What can I do.

Thanks. Please be kind, I have recently had a traumatic event in my life - we all make mistakes.

Sandtree

I'm confused on the setup... so did you think you were a named driver on your partners policy or did you think you were driving it third party only under the Driving Other Cars on your own policy?

Assuming its the later, have you checked the policy wording on "partner's cars"? There is a lot of myths around DoC but policy wordings are normally more favourable than call centre agents think.

cpfcstar said:

1. - Do either insurance company report me to the police for no insurance? I understand the gravity of this, all I can say was it was a genuine misunderstanding.

2. - What happens with an at fault claim driver that doesn't have insurance, are they pursued for the money as an individual then?

3. - Is there anything I can do from here for mitigation purposes?

4. -I've since read that my husbands insurance could probably be forced to take the claim and then they will look to reclaim those costs directly from me and my husband. What if this is a huge sum? What can I do.

5. Thanks. Please be kind, I have recently had a traumatic event in my life - we all make mistakes.

1) Unlikely, they've better things to do with their time

2) They will be ultimately, if there is insurance on the vehicle, even if invalidated through driver or something else, they have a legal obligation to deal with the claim in most circumstances but have a right to recover the outlay from either the driver of their vehicle (you) or their policyholder (your partner) if their policyholder had allowed the driver to use the vehicle

3) Other than double checking the DoC clause if you thought that is what you were driving under

4) See 2 above... if its a huge sum they may accept instalments but they may want to attach the debt to an asset (eg your home) not to force you to move but to ensure they get money when you sell it. If there are no injuries then the sums are unlikely to be earth shattering. With injuries it can increase massively... my largest personal case (from distant memory) was £50k or so

5) We get a story of uninsured crashes about once a month or so on here... some will judge, its mainly for those that try and find a loophole or try and blame someone else rather than hold their hands up. 

born_again

Sounds to me like they both had their own policies, then they have turned partners policy as a "Multi Car Policy"

cpfcstar

born_again said:

Sounds to me like they both had their own policies, then they have turned partners policy as a "Multi Car Policy"

Yes, we had our own policies. Then I joined my husbands multi car with admiral, asked over the phone 2 years ago if it covered me driving other cars - call handler said "yes". However wording on policy states: The policyholder may also drive with the consent of the owner of a private motor car as long as the other car is not a hire or rental car, is not owned by you or your partner nor obtained by you or your partner under a hire purchase or lease agreement, within our territorial limits, providing there is a valid insurance policy in force for that car. The cover is Third party only.

Sandtree

Presumably you cohabit and share finances as per their definition of partner if unmarried?

KimJongUn88

Personally, I’d let Admiral deal with the third party claim. They’ll probably ask you to sign a form of Consent and Indemnity which allows them the right to deal with the claim and also preserves their right of recovery of their outlay against you.

jimjames

cpfcstar said:

born_again said:

Sounds to me like they both had their own policies, then they have turned partners policy as a "Multi Car Policy"

Yes, we had our own policies. Then I joined my husbands multi car with admiral, asked over the phone 2 years ago if it covered me driving other cars - call handler said "yes". However wording on policy states: The policyholder may also drive with the consent of the owner of a private motor car as long as the other car is not a hire or rental car, is not owned by you or your partner nor obtained by you or your partner under a hire purchase or lease agreement, within our territorial limits, providing there is a valid insurance policy in force for that car. The cover is Third party only.

But are you named drivers on each others policy? We have Admiral multi car and can set the drivers on each car but are both named on the cars.

iwb100

jimjames said:

cpfcstar said:

born_again said:

Sounds to me like they both had their own policies, then they have turned partners policy as a "Multi Car Policy"

Yes, we had our own policies. Then I joined my husbands multi car with admiral, asked over the phone 2 years ago if it covered me driving other cars - call handler said "yes". However wording on policy states: The policyholder may also drive with the consent of the owner of a private motor car as long as the other car is not a hire or rental car, is not owned by you or your partner nor obtained by you or your partner under a hire purchase or lease agreement, within our territorial limits, providing there is a valid insurance policy in force for that car. The cover is Third party only.

But are you named drivers on each others policy? We have Admiral multi car and can set the drivers on each car but are both named on the cars.

This is what I don’t understand. The normal setup is to be able to drive any cars in your multi car group and it’s like this policy has been sold specifically to exclude that. I’ve no idea how that would even happen. 

cpfcstar

iwb100 said:

jimjames said:

cpfcstar said:

born_again said:

Sounds to me like they both had their own policies, then they have turned partners policy as a "Multi Car Policy"

Yes, we had our own policies. Then I joined my husbands multi car with admiral, asked over the phone 2 years ago if it covered me driving other cars - call handler said "yes". However wording on policy states: The policyholder may also drive with the consent of the owner of a private motor car as long as the other car is not a hire or rental car, is not owned by you or your partner nor obtained by you or your partner under a hire purchase or lease agreement, within our territorial limits, providing there is a valid insurance policy in force for that car. The cover is Third party only.

But are you named drivers on each others policy? We have Admiral multi car and can set the drivers on each car but are both named on the cars.

This is what I don’t understand. The normal setup is to be able to drive any cars in your multi car group and it’s like this policy has been sold specifically to exclude that. I’ve no idea how that would even happen. 

The policy was originally in my husbands name for him. I called 2 years ago and asked to make this a multicar policy but they just added my car with me as named driver on just that. I asked if I was insured to drive another car and they said yes as long as it's not regularly, however now I am realising that there was more to this in the small print.

DB1904

iwb100 said:

jimjames said:

cpfcstar said:

born_again said:

Sounds to me like they both had their own policies, then they have turned partners policy as a "Multi Car Policy"

Yes, we had our own policies. Then I joined my husbands multi car with admiral, asked over the phone 2 years ago if it covered me driving other cars - call handler said "yes". However wording on policy states: The policyholder may also drive with the consent of the owner of a private motor car as long as the other car is not a hire or rental car, is not owned by you or your partner nor obtained by you or your partner under a hire purchase or lease agreement, within our territorial limits, providing there is a valid insurance policy in force for that car. The cover is Third party only.

But are you named drivers on each others policy? We have Admiral multi car and can set the drivers on each car but are both named on the cars.

This is what I don’t understand. The normal setup is to be able to drive any cars in your multi car group and it’s like this policy has been sold specifically to exclude that. I’ve no idea how that would even happen. 

Not on my Admiral policy.

GrumpyDil

My Aviva multicar was similar insofar as I listed my wife as a named driver on my car and I was listed as a named driver on her car. I'd always do that anyway as relying on drive any carvonmy ever gives third party cover.