Insurance question, driving other cars

polo644

Hi, my wife had borrowed my sisters car (that she was selling) for the week as ours died, had a temp insurance transfer till Midnight Friday as ours was supposed to be repaired Friday evening and picked up Sat. It wasnt ready on Sat and we used the car tonight as on my wifes insurance she is covered to drive other cars and I am a named driver so question is this, we got stopped tonight coming home because headlight bulb went, no issue there, hold my hands up.
Thing is I was driving home as my wife hurt her back when we got pulled, explained all to the Garda and asked to produce my licence and insurance, no prob , but thing is I was speaking to a friend and they reckon while my wife would be covered to drive under her full comp policy I wouldnt be covered to drive as I am only a named driver.

coylemj

Your post is a bit convoluted so can I ask you to clarify the following......

1. Whose car was involved i.e. who owns the car?

2. Who was driving?

3. Was the person who was driving a named driver under the policy on that car or did the driver have a policy in their own name which covered them to drive 'other cars'.

polo644

it is my sisters car.
I was driving home as my wife was unable to.
I am a named driver on my wifes policy which has driving of other cars included.

Stoolbend

Does your sister have open drive on her policy?

If not, it looks like you arent covered

coylemj

polo644 wrote: »

it is my sisters car.
I was driving home as my wife was unable to.
I am a named driver on my wifes policy which has driving of other cars included.

Your wife's policy covers her car, it will not extend to your sister's car.

If your sister's policy has 'other drivers' cover then it's possible that you are covered if you have a full licence or you may be covered if you have a policy in your name and it covers you to drive other cars.

You need to forget about your wife's policy, it will not cover you to drive a car other than the car nominated on her policy.

whomitconcerns

Unfortunately as others have said. Only the policy holder has the driving other cars extention. So you were not insured at the time on your wife's policy... If the sister had open drive and you are over 25 with a full licence, you may be covered under sisters policy.

TheNog

polo644 wrote: »

Hi, my wife had borrowed my sisters car (that she was selling) for the week as ours died, had a temp insurance transfer till Midnight Friday as ours was supposed to be repaired Friday evening and picked up Sat. It wasnt ready on Sat and we used the car tonight as on my wifes insurance she is covered to drive other cars and I am a named driver so question is this, we got stopped tonight coming home because headlight bulb went, no issue there, hold my hands up.
Thing is I was driving home as my wife hurt her back when we got pulled, explained all to the Garda and asked to produce my licence and insurance, no prob , but thing is I was speaking to a friend and they reckon while my wife would be covered to drive under her full comp policy I wouldnt be covered to drive as I am only a named driver.

A temporary transfer from one car to another by your wife should mean you are insured as your name is part of her policy. I would check with the insurance company to be sure though but I'm fairly certain you are ok.

pippip

TheNog wrote: »

A temporary transfer from one car to another by your wife should mean you are insured as your name is part of her policy. I would check with the insurance company to be sure though but I'm fairly certain you are ok.

The temp transfer ran out the previous day. Best ring insurance company on Monday.

Out of curiosity, when producing details at station what's the procedure. Do the Gardai look up the offense or just make a note of the policy details etc. how do they connect the details with the offense ticket and how thorough are they?

corktina

You could be in the ****e here....

You need to read your Wife's policy or contact her Ins Co to see what exactly the cover is and you need to do the same with your sister's insurance if it is still valid.

How thorough they are at the Garda Station depends on how much they believed your "hurt back" story. No doubt that's true but it SOUNDS like the sort of excuse they have heard a hundred times.

delta_bravo

pippip wrote: »

The temp transfer ran out the previous day. Best ring insurance company on Monday.

Out of curiosity, when producing details at station what's the procedure. Do the Gardai look up the offense or just make a note of the policy details etc. how do they connect the details with the offense ticket and how thorough are they?

They will ring your insurer to check if you were insured, check your sister in law's policy details asap as its unlikely your wife's insurance covered you

pippip

delta_bravo wrote: »

They will ring your insurer to check if you were insured, check your sister in law's policy details asap as its unlikely your wife's insurance covered you

Would they? That seems like a lot of work for the Gardai. In this case the op was only pulled for a headlight bulb, would they go as far to connect the reg of the car he was in with the policy.

Just seems like one of those cases where the Gardai would do as little as possible given the offense. I could understand them following up all the details on a more serious crime.

mathepac

Given the facts as stated OP, no ifs, ands, buts or crystal-ball gazing, you were not covered in that car at the time you were stopped.

corktina

pippip wrote: »

Would they? That seems like a lot of work for the Gardai. In this case the op was only pulled for a headlight bulb, would they go as far to connect the reg of the car he was in with the policy.

Just seems like one of those cases where the Gardai would do as little as possible given the offense. I could understand them following up all the details on a more serious crime.

in my view, driving without insurance is a serious crime, even if done inadvertently.

pippip

corktina wrote: »

in my view, driving without insurance is a serious crime, even if done inadvertently.

Yes I agree, but the Garda thinks the only offense is a blown bulb.
I'm just wondering if the op walked into the station and just said I was pulled for a blown bulb and told to produce my licence and insurance cert, how likely is it for the insurance problem to be noticed?

AltAccount

pippip wrote: »

Yes I agree, but the Garda thinks the only offense is a blown bulb.
I'm just wondering if the op walked into the station and just said I was pulled for a blown bulb and told to produce my licence and insurance cert, how likely is it for the insurance problem to be noticed?

The station won't give a crap. They'll take the details of whatever they're presented with.

The Garda will check in 10 days, see that no insurance details were presented, a summons will issue.


OP - get your wife to call her insurance company tomorrow morning and get confirmation of whether you were insured.
If not, get the sister to call hers and see if you were covered there.
Don't visit the Garda station, or worry about it too much, until you know the outcomes of these conversations.

corktina

I'd say the Gard isn't too worried about the blown bulb but wants to check the paperwork is in order.

Del2005

pippip wrote: »

Yes I agree, but the Garda thinks the only offense is a blown bulb.
I'm just wondering if the op walked into the station and just said I was pulled for a blown bulb and told to produce my licence and insurance cert, how likely is it for the insurance problem to be noticed?

corktina wrote: »

I'd say the Gard isn't too worried about the blown bulb but wants to check the paperwork is in order.

Would the fact that the reg on the insurance cert doesn't match the car stopped flag in pulse. Then the Garda would have to check to see if they had "driving other cars" on the wife's policy which extends to named drivers or the sister's policy has "open drive"

oldyouth

coylemj wrote: »

Your wife's policy covers her car, it will not extend to your sister's car.

If your sister's policy has 'other drivers' cover then it's possible that you are covered if you have a full licence or you may be covered if you have a policy in your name and it covers you to drive other cars.

You need to forget about your wife's policy, it will not cover you to drive a car other than the car nominated on her policy.

That's not the way I read it. When the OP's wife transferred the car on to her policy, all drivers are entitled to drive it as if it was the permanent insured vehicle.

When the temporary substitution expired at midnight on the Friday, the OP's wife still had the benefit of her Driving of Other Cars extension. However, this does not entitle a named driver (the OP) to drive the car.

The only solution, as I see it, is if the sister has an Open Drive extension to allow others driver on her policy.

K.Flyer

AltAccount wrote: »

The station won't give a crap. They'll take the details of whatever they're presented with.

The Garda will check in 10 days, see that no insurance details were presented, a summons will issue.


OP - get your wife to call her insurance company tomorrow morning and get confirmation of whether you were insured.
If not, get the sister to call hers and see if you were covered there.
Don't visit the Garda station, or worry about it too much, until you know the outcomes of these conversations.

In addition...
I would suggest IF you are covered by either or both policies to be driving your sisters car at that moment in time, then ask the insurance company for a letter to confirm it asap and present it with your licence and insurance documents at the station.
If they do not take a copy or a note of it, make sure you keep it safe as you may need it if sent a summons.

TheNog

pippip wrote: »

The temp transfer ran out the previous day. Best ring insurance company on Monday.

Out of curiosity, when producing details at station what's the procedure. Do the Gardai look up the offense or just make a note of the policy details etc. how do they connect the details with the offense ticket and how thorough are they?

Sorry I didn't pick up on the temp transfer running out the previous day.

Policy details are taken and can be checked with the insurance company directly.

polo644

Thanks for all the input guys, looks like I'm in trouble with this !
23 years of clean driving (mostly for a living), always made sure everything was straight even ironically to the point of keeping spare bulbs in my own van and my wife's car , then this .
Just as an aside in this area, what is the policy if someone buys a car out of office hours or over a weekend as regards insurance , are you covered to drive or are you supposed to park up the car till next working day ?

oldyouth

polo644 wrote: »

Just as an aside in this area, what is the policy if someone buys a car out of office hours or over a weekend as regards insurance , are you covered to drive or are you supposed to park up the car till next working day ?

If you haven't made prior arrangements for cover, you need to park it up. Other than that, you can always arrange a policy online. If it is a question of just getting it home, ask someone else you has driving of other cars to get it there (third party only cover)

aisr1ofk43dpy5

OP do you mind if I be nosey and ask how been stopped because your bulb wasn't working led to you having to produce documents. I've been stopped because a bulb wasn't working but never asked to produce documents. Just curious.

MugMugs

Alicia Yummy Denim wrote: »

OP do you mind if I be nosey and ask how been stopped because your bulb wasn't working led to you having to produce documents. I've been stopped because a bulb wasn't working but never asked to produce documents. Just curious.

The answer to that question may rest more so with the Garda who stopped the OP and made the request.

I'd say go in and produce your valid cert (for your own car) and licence and say nothing except you were asked to produce the cert. When a note is taken that a valid cert and licence is produced it might go no further

cml387

OP, have you not got your own insurance?

corktina

seems to me he has not

MugMugs

cml387 wrote: »

OP, have you not got your own insurance?

corktina wrote: »

seems to me he has not

From this post the OP advised that they have a Commercial Policy

Del2005

Chanel Hissing Rally wrote: »

I'd say go in and produce your valid cert (for your own car) and licence and say nothing except you were asked to produce the cert. When a note is taken that a valid cert and licence is produced it might go no further

The details in Pulse won't match. I got stopped and when I produced the road on the receipt wasn't the name I'd used for it in the station.

The OP is in enough trouble, producing the wrong documents is worst than none.

Del2005

Del2005 wrote: »

The details in Pulse won't match. I got stopped and when I produced the road on the receipt wasn't the name I'd used for it in the station.

The OP is in enough trouble, producing the wrong documents is worst than none.

He has been asked to produce his insurance cert, how is he producing the wrong documents?

I know the op wasn't covered but if he was actually using the driving other cars extension correctly then he would have been driving a different car than the one on his cert also so what would happen in this situation? The details won't match on pulse either. The fact things are not clear in his situation could play to his advantage and it might slip under the radar is all I'm saying.

Del2005

Chanel Hissing Rally wrote: »

He has been asked to produce his insurance cert, how is he producing the wrong documents?

I know the op wasn't covered but if he was actually using the driving other cars extension correctly then he would have been driving a different car than the one on his cert also so what would happen in this situation? The details won't match on pulse either. The fact things are not clear in his situation could play to his advantage and it might slip under the radar is all I'm saying.

He doesn't have an insurance cert to produce, apart from a commercial which doesn't cover private cars. Anything he produces won't match the car he was stopped in, so the Garda will have to check into it.

AltAccount

Well OP, any update on what's the what?

rugbyman

Op,
There are various theories being aired here. I suggest you need to find that guard, explain exactly what happened, with your certs on the table, both your annual one and the temp. One. If he does not overlook it, then the judge may do so, esp when the guard tells the judge you were upfront about this.

However, now that I have typed this, and after 40 years of being in bother on my part, it may well be now in this age of transparency that the guard will be obliged to proceed. Perhaps if a guard is reading, he could comment.
Equally the judge may be obliged to convict, the question then is, is there a minimum punishment he must dole out , like a ban perhaps. In that case , honesty may not be the best policy

Del2005

Del2005 wrote: »

He doesn't have an insurance cert to produce, apart from a commercial which doesn't cover private cars. Anything he produces won't match the car he was stopped in, so the Garda will have to check into it.

I'm surprised his commercial insurance doesn't cover driving other cars, when I had a car-van my policy covered driving private cars.

In any case I was suggesting just producing his wife's cert which he is a named driver on and hope all they do is confirm he is covered to drive some car and don't actually check into the details of the case. They might be busy and when they see a valid in date cert covering him they might just say leave it at that without checking into it.

polo644

I rang the broker first this morning and they told me my wife had left a voicemail Fri evening after office hours (never told me ) asking to call back as we needed to extend temp cover so they contacted insurance company and they agreed to issue a cert to cover from Saturday :-) .
And yes I did explain all to the broker and there was no problem.
Thanks for all your input . I will be staying with the broker for another while for definite.
Just to add I was asked to produce docs as it was not my car and there was no disc on it.

aisr1ofk43dpy5

polo644 wrote: »

I rang the broker first this morning and they told me my wife had left a voicemail Fri evening after office hours (never told me ) asking to call back as we needed to extend temp cover so they contacted insurance company and they agreed to issue a cert to cover from Saturday :-) .
And yes I did explain all to the broker and there was no problem.
Thanks for all your input . I will be staying with the broker for another while for definite.
Just to add I was asked to produce docs as it was not my car and there was no disc on it.

Great stuff delighted to hear that dinner out for the Mrs methinks :-)

aisr1ofk43dpy5

Chanel Hissing Rally wrote: »

I'm surprised his commercial insurance doesn't cover driving other cars, when I had a car-van my policy covered driving private cars.

Do you mind if I ask which company you had driving of private cars on a van policy with as I would be interested in this myself.

Anan1

polo644 wrote: »

I rang the broker first this morning and they told me my wife had left a voicemail Fri evening after office hours (never told me ) asking to call back as we needed to extend temp cover so they contacted insurance company and they agreed to issue a cert to cover from Saturday :-) .
And yes I did explain all to the broker and there was no problem.
Thanks for all your input . I will be staying with the broker for another while for definite.
Just to add I was asked to produce docs as it was not my car and there was no disc on it.

You were very, very lucky there.

Del2005

Alicia Yummy Denim wrote: »

Great stuff delighted to hear that dinner out for the Mrs methinks :-)

She deserves more than one dinner

Alicia Yummy Denim

Alicia Yummy Denim wrote: »

Do you mind if I ask which company you had driving of private cars on a van policy with as I would be interested in this myself.

It was with Quinn and was a good few years ago. I'm not sure what exact type of policy I had because the van was for private use so not sure if that made a difference. It was definitely a van policy though as you were always asked if it was a car-van.

My insurance cert read exactly like any other cert, "you are insured to drive any other private vehicle, not owned or hired to you" etc etc. I know for sure I had the extension as I make a lot of use of it for using parents cars etc when I needed to bring more than one other person with me in the car.

aisr1ofk43dpy5

Chanel Hissing Rally wrote: »

It was with Quinn and was a good few years ago. I'm not sure what exact type of policy I had because the van was for private use so not sure if that made a difference. It was definitely a van policy though as you were always asked if it was a car-van.

My insurance cert read exactly like any other cert, "you are insured to drive any other private vehicle, not owned or hired to you" etc etc. I know for sure I had the extension as I make a lot of use of it for using parents cars etc when I needed to bring more than one other person with me in the car.

Cheers thanks for the information.