Am i insured to drive my boyfriends car?

D.yuu

Hi. i got stopped by garda when i was driving my boyfriends car and they have asked me to present myself to garda in 10days to show them proof that i was insured on the car. which i wasn't really, i dont think..

i have insurance on my car but not on his. What happens if i dont present it to garda?? That is the question

Tonto86

Your policy could cover you to drive other vehicles or theres a small chance his policy could cover other people to drive his car.

Call both insurance companies and ask

jamie72

I asked Quinn direct back in the day and they answered with:

"If it isn't your car, but it is fully legal on the road (Tax, insurance, NCT) then you can drive it once it is not a car you are using regularly."


In case we have people from the UK part of Ireland reading this, it is apparently not the same in the UK. In the UK you have to advise your insurance company you will be driving the car before you even step into the drivers seat.

StillWaters

If you have comprehensive insurance, you probably have 'open drive' which insures you whilst driving another insured car.

Check with your insurer.

Marcusm

StillWaters wrote: »

If you have comprehensive insurance, you probably have 'open drive' which insures you whilst driving another insured car.

Check with your insurer.

You need to be careful with terminology here; "open drive" is generally an add on to the policy allowing unnamed drivers within a category to drive a particular car and might be included on the boyfriend's policy in this instance. For the OP's own policy, she needs to establsh whether she has the "driving other cars" extension on her own policy. Both may cover her.

Pro Hoc Vice

D.yuu wrote: »

Hi. i got stopped by garda when i was driving my boyfriends car and they have asked me to present myself to garda in 10days to show them proof that i was insured on the car. which i wasn't really, i dont think..

i have insurance on my car but not on his. What happens if i dont present it to garda?? That is the question

Ask someone who knows what they are at (hint a solicitor/broker) to look at both policies and confirm that you had insurance. If you had, present to AGS that's should be the end of it. If you have not then you will more than likely be summoned to court accused of having no insurance, and failure to produce insurance. The penalty will be fine and there is in no insurance on a first offence a 1 year ban unless you have a special reason why you should not be banned. Some judges in the DC will always give the ban, meaning there has to be an appeal to Circuit Court.

LoveCoke

infosys wrote: »

Ask someone who knows what they are at (hint a solicitor/broker) to look at both policies and confirm that you had insurance. If you had, present to AGS that's should be the end of it. If you have not then you will more than likely be summoned to court accused of having no insurance, and failure to produce insurance. The penalty will be fine and there is in no insurance on a first offence a 1 year ban unless you have a special reason why you should not be banned. Some judges in the DC will always give the ban, meaning there has to be an appeal to Circuit Court.

you hardly need a solicitor to read the part, if its there, where it says you can drive other people cars and under what conditions. mine is in fairly plain englsh

Pro Hoc Vice

LoveCoke wrote: »

you hardly need a solicitor to read the part, if its there, where it says you can drive other people cars and under what conditions. mine is in fairly plain englsh

You would think you would think, but I did say solicitor/broker. I have seen a case where the prosecuting solicitor, the Defence solicitor and barrister a rep from the insurance company and a judge could not say with certainty that the person was covered as the policy in fact said he was both covered and not covered.

If the person could read a insurance policy and could confirm cover one way or another then why is she asking the question so as the risk is a ban it maybe in her best interest to get a professional to confirm cover.

LoveCoke

infosys wrote: »

You would think you would think, but I did say solicitor/broker. I have seen a case where the prosecuting solicitor, the Defence solicitor and barrister a rep from the insurance company and a judge could not say with certainty that the person was covered as the policy in fact said he was both covered and not covered.

If the person could read a insurance policy and could confirm cover one way or another then why is she asking the question so as the risk is a ban it maybe in her best interest to get a professional to confirm cover.

mine is in english anyway an d quite plain.

Pro Hoc Vice

LoveCoke wrote: »

mine is in english anyway an d quite plain.

And are you sure any exclusions are lawful, I personally have seen conditions that breach the regulations.

coylemj

D.yuu wrote: »

Hi. i got stopped by garda when i was driving my boyfriends car and they have asked me to present myself to garda in 10days to show them proof that i was insured on the car. which i wasn't really, i dont think..

i have insurance on my car but not on his. What happens if i dont present it to garda?? That is the question

I know you said that you 'have insurance on my car but not on his' but that doesn't necessarily mean that you are not covered on either policy i.e. just because you are not a named driver on his policy doesn't mean that you are not covered by his policy.

Check your own insurance cert first, if it says that you can drive other cars with the owner's permission then bring your own cert. to the Garda station you nominated, show the insurance cert. and tell the officer that you are relying on your own policy to cover you. The issue here is that that your policy will have a different registration number on it from the one on the car you were driving on the day so the officer will need to record and acknowledge the fact that you have a policy which covers you to drive other cars.

If your own policy doesn't cover you to drive other cars then you would need to fall back on the boyfriend's policy but that would require him to have coverage for other drivers and that you are aged between 25 and 70 and have a full licence.

If you can't produce a cert to cover you then you are looking at a summons and a large fine.

mathepac

StillWaters wrote: »

If you have comprehensive insurance, you probably have 'open drive' which insures you whilst driving another insured car.

Check with your insurer.

NO IT DOES NOT!!!!

Pro Hoc Vice

mathepac wrote: »

NO IT DOES NOT!!!!

I think you missed the probably and the check with your insurance company.

mathepac

infosys wrote: »

... check with your insurance company.

I hate when people give "probably" answers in relation to motor insurance questions. The OP wasn't smart enough to check her insurance coverage before driving another car and doesn't appear to know the consequences of not producing her details. Please don't give her an excuse to perhaps get into even deeper trouble by avoiding attending at the station because a random poster on the internet said she was "probably covered".

Duiske

mathepac wrote: »

NO IT DOES NOT!!!!

I think StillWaters may have been confusing two different things and it was mentioned in the post after his, POLITELY !!!!

Pro Hoc Vice

mathepac wrote: »

I hate when people give "probably" answers in relation to motor insurance questions. The OP wasn't smart enough to check her insurance coverage before driving another car and doesn't appear to know the consequences of not producing her details. Please don't give her an excuse to perhaps get into even deeper trouble by avoiding attending at the station because a random poster on the internet said she was "probably covered".

Who said the avoid going to the station. It is a strict liability offence she is either covered or not, it matters not her knowledge when she drove all, that matters is was she covered. I don't like people giving advice that could lead to a person innocent of a crime getting a conviction when the person may not be guilty of that crime.