Driving with no insurance

Lewe

Basically I was stopped driving a car from my brothers garage that I was not insured on. I have my own pollicy which at the time was on hold My brother told me I was insured on his policy but turns out i'm not. He told me to go and produce my insurance cert along with his and i should be ok.. Will this be the case as I'v never had this happen before and i'm affraid i might get banned.
Sorry if this is in the wrong section.

Seth Brundle

How do we know?
What kind of policy do you have - does it cover the driving of other cars?

edit: if your policy was on hold then you were not insured in your own name. Given that your brothers policy did not cover you then you were not insured to drive at the time!

ShayK1

This may not be sound advice but if you produce your insurance cert and they see that you are covered to drive other cars, are they really going to check and see if its on hold?

I don't think so.....

Gurgle

Lewe wrote: »

Basically I was stopped driving a car from my brothers garage that I was not insured on. I have my own pollicy which at the time was on hold My brother told me I was insured on his policy but turns out i'm not. He told me to go and produce my insurance cert along with his and i should be ok.. Will this be the case as I'v never had this happen before and i'm affraid i might get banned.
Sorry if this is in the wrong section.

If you have a cert saying that you were insured, you'll be fine. The gardai are unlikely to check whether your insurance was 'on hold' at the time.

-edit- your policy does cover driving other cars, right?
If not, you're screwed -/edit-

Having said that: Have some sense and don't do it again, the consequences of having an accident while driving uninsured are pretty severe.

Lewe

i'm insured fully comp and i can drive other cars third party with the premmison of the owner...but my policy was on hold whats the chances i will get banned. My bro just said produce mine and his and leave it at that because he doubts that anything will happen:(:(
thanks for the replys

Tipsy Mac

Worst case 6 points and a €1500 fine.

Seth Brundle

Gurgle wrote: »

If you have a cert saying that you were insured, you'll be fine. The gardai are unlikely to check whether your insurance was 'on hold' at the time.

IIRC the insurance companies are linked into Pulse so it would be easy enough for the garda to double check.

B00MSTICK

I'd get it "off hold" asap and bring both of the insurance certs in like your brother (who got you to drive the car, knowing full well you werent insured to drive it) advised.

Lewe

it was taken off hold first thing this morning... I'm gonna do what he said and hope for the best.

Pdfile

i'd say a hail mary or two, just to be sure, plus if they follow it up ( to see when the policy was active or not ) your quite well fcuked.... but they wont.

just provide your proof of insurence and take the stern warning on the chin

Gurgle

kbannon wrote: »

IIRC the insurance companies are linked into Pulse so it would be easy enough for the garda to double check.

Didn't know that.

The last time I had to produce insurance, the garda in the station took out his big book and wrote in my details.

When you're instructed to produce proof of insurance at your local garda station, is this request put through pulse?

Is the system as automated as it could/should be?

alfaromeo84

As an insurance broker, i can say the Gardai have little to no direct access to insurance details.

kenbrady

They check most of the details of people who produce insurance. Depends on how busy they are,if they are suspicious. People sign up for insurance and then cancel the payments but keep the insurance cert. They called my insurance company when I had to produce my insurance cert.

Fey!

Another aspect to this.

As fa as I am aware (definitely true in the UK, but not so sure for Ireland), for the "driving of other cars" part of your policy to cover you, the "other car" you are driving MUST have an independent insurance policy active on it (in other words, there must be a policy in place on the car you were driving when you were stopped in order for your own inurance to cover you).

Would one of the Traffic Corps members on here please confirm or refute this?

kenbrady

Fey! wrote: »

Another aspect to this.

As fa as I am aware (definitely true in the UK, but not so sure for Ireland), for the "driving of other cars" part of your policy to cover you, the "other car" you are driving MUST have an independent insurance policy active on it (in other words, there must be a policy in place on the car you were driving when you were stopped in order for your own inurance to cover you).

Would one of the Traffic Corps members on here please confirm or refute this?

Nothing to do with the gardai, only your insurance company can verify that. Gardai might have an issue with no insurance cert being displayed.

zilog_jones

Fey! wrote: »

As fa as I am aware (definitely true in the UK, but not so sure for Ireland), for the "driving of other cars" part of your policy to cover you, the "other car" you are driving MUST have an independent insurance policy active on it (in other words, there must be a policy in place on the car you were driving when you were stopped in order for your own inurance to cover you).

This is not true for my insurance policy with Quinn anyway

seamus

Fey! wrote: »

Another aspect to this.

As fa as I am aware (definitely true in the UK, but not so sure for Ireland), for the "driving of other cars" part of your policy to cover you, the "other car" you are driving MUST have an independent insurance policy active on it (in other words, there must be a policy in place on the car you were driving when you were stopped in order for your own inurance to cover you).

Would one of the Traffic Corps members on here please confirm or refute this?

I'm not a traffic corps member, but I can tell you that's not the case. Your insurance policy only needs to cover you on the vehicle. Whether ot not another policy should be active on the vehicle is dependent on the insurance company.
My policy, for example, pretty much lets me drive any other vehicle with the owner's permission (with Hibernian).

SV

zilog_jones wrote: »

This is true for my insurance policy with Quinn anyway

No it isn't.

With Quinn you are covered as long as you don't own the other car and it isn't hired or leased to you.
Quinn actually say you are covered provided insurance isn't being provided by anyone else.
That's all it says on insurance and it refers to yourself and not the other car.

Theta

alfaromeo84 wrote: »

As an insurance broker, i can say the Gardai have little to no direct access to insurance details.

Been covered in the Emergency services forum. Since about 2 months ago they have access updated daily. Its used with the ANPR system.

zilog_jones

zilog_jones wrote: »

This is true for my insurance policy with Quinn anyway

This is definitely not the case with Quinn. I needed the use of a friends car a while back when I was with Quinn. The car was off the road and not insured. Quinn confirmed that the other car did not need a policy on it in order for me to drive it under the driving other car extension.

zilog_jones

I stand corrected.

mp22

Jazlynn Greasy Ballet wrote: »

This is definitely not the case with Quinn. I needed the use of a friends car a while back when I was with Quinn. The car was off the road and not insured. Quinn confirmed that the other car did not need a policy on it in order for me to drive it under the driving other car extension.

same deal with axa if i drive any other car my full comp comes with me no mater what i am driving

oldyouth

If your policy was 'on hold', did you not have to return your certificate to insurers? They normally wouldn't leave it in your posession. If you took it off hold today, it is likely that a new cert, timed from the date of your instruction, will be re-issued to you

mp22

mp22 wrote: »

same deal with axa if i drive any other car my full comp comes with me no mater what i am driving

You will only have 3rd party cover on the other car not fully comp.

alo1587

Hi OP,does your brother have garage insurance/motor trade insurance? If so,you should be covered to drive a car from his garage for test drive purposes as long as he's with you.Even if he wasnt with you,bring him in with you when you produce his cert and get him to say he was in the car with you at the time.If he doesn't have trade insurance,you better find someone who does and would be willing to cover for you....

mike65

Excuse me for chipping in with a related query I just checked my own policy and it states

Cover will be provided for any other private motor car with the owners permission if

a) you do not own the vehicle
b) It is not hired to you
c) It is not the property of, or in the custody of the motor trade of which you are a member, director or employee

No mention of other vehicle needing be to insured by the owner. So provided I have insurance to drive, the other party doesn't need to have his/her vehicle insured. Is that correct?

CoDy1

Jazlynn Greasy Ballet wrote: »

You will only have 3rd party cover on the other car not fully comp.

This is usually the case but Axa do have an Executive First policy which gives you comprehensive cover when driving other cars

mike65 wrote: »

Excuse me for chipping in with a related query I just checked my own policy and it states

Cover will be provided for any other private motor car with the owners permission if

a) you do not own the vehicle
b) It is not hired to you
c) It is not the property of, or in the custody of the motor trade of which you are a member, director or employee

No mention of other vehicle needing be to insured by the owner. So provided I have insurance to drive, the other party doesn't need to have his/her vehicle insured. Is that correct?

Yes, but again its probably Third Party cover only.

deman

Pdfile wrote: »

i'd say a hail mary or two

LOL!! :D:D

OP, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Pretty sure the guards won't follow up on it. Unless they're reading this thread :eek:

needtoknowasap

I work for one of the bigger insurers and if you have had your insurance on hold as you say then that means you would have had to return your certificate and disc to your insurer in order for them to put it on hold. If you were stopped driving when your policy was on hold (suspended) then you are not covered full stop. Even if your policy was not on hold there would still be an issue with you driving a garage car,most policies stipulate the car must be privately owned and not registered in yours or spouses name or hired under a hire purchase agreement, the use of privately owned means you are not covered on a garage car,usually people do temporary substitutions to garage cars. If you do as one of the earlier posters say and bring in your brother to say he has a garage policy and was in the car with you,will they not have a record you were stopped on your own???

seamus

mike65 wrote: »

Excuse me for chipping in with a related query I just checked my own policy and it states

Cover will be provided for any other private motor car with the owners permission if

a) you do not own the vehicle
b) It is not hired to you
c) It is not the property of, or in the custody of the motor trade of which you are a member, director or employee

No mention of other vehicle needing be to insured by the owner. So provided I have insurance to drive, the other party doesn't need to have his/her vehicle insured. Is that correct?

Yes, but just doublecheck it. The insurer could add conditions to the policy of insurance (as distinct from the cert) which prevent you from driving other cars. However, the insurance cert requires them to insure you for third-party claims, but a breach of the policy could allow them to pursue you for costs.

So unless your policy specifically states that you're covered to drive other vehicles, you could be liable for costs if you crash - though you are still driving legally irregardless.

seamus

needtoknowasap wrote: »

Even if your policy was not on hold there would still be an issue with you driving a garage car,most policies stipulate the car must be privately owned and not registered in yours or spouses name or hired under a hire purchase agreement, the use of privately owned means you are not covered on a garage car,usually people do temporary substitutions to garage cars.

Just a slight aside - how does this cover people taking test drives? I'm sure the garage's insurance policy covers these? When I bought my last car, I didn't have any insurance when I was looking. I walked into the garage and he offered to let me take the car out - he never asked if I had insurance (or even a licence to be fair), but I assumed that I was covered by their insurance. Maybe I wasn't...