Is drive other cars option cover newly purchased car?

sabinalee

So today was a bad day….even 7 was my lucky one so far….

We bought the car today to replace our old car for a bit newer one. The car has tax and nct on it. Ex owner took insurance disc belong to hers.

I knew alianz do not operate today Sunday so we took the disc from the older car where we have “drive other cars” extra on policy and is still up to date.

10 minutes after the purchase…

I was driving our car and my husband with our daughter in our new car. I was behind them…

My husband was doing about 120km/h ( testing the power?) on the road up to 100km/h and the gards stopped him! I pulled as well, but he did not let me to talk and told me to go back to the car.
The seized the car!
No insurance.

The gard did not wanted to listen my husband either. He said we have no insurance and that’s it and how dangerous it is.....

We should have proper insurance, but I really thought if we have this options we could be covered for this 30 minutes drive.

We always care and pay insurance, taxes nct but we messed up big time with no bad intentions.

In age of 53 my husband will get his first point, court visit, fine, loosing licence….ban...and we are shocked.

I was crying like a baby in the car not having chances even to explain. ( my husbands English isn’t great).
Anger did not helped too. My husband will remember that 120km for long time and we are not even looking forward to get this car back ☹ ☹

Anyone who could share similar experience and consequences he/she got?

Of course I did request insurance from today's date, but I will get the documents possibly tomorrow online.
I have to print them and drive to garda station so they could give us form to collect the car from other location, which is in different county btw....
Echhhh

Wetbench4

My insurance company allows me to drive other cars as long as they're not owned by me. I think most companies do it that way, but i'm open to correction.
Your husband had just bought the car, and was the owner at the time of getting stopped by the police, so I don't think the "drive other cars " option would apply.

That's my understanding of how it works, but i'm not an expert.

tcawley29

Wetbench4 wrote: »

My insurance company allows me to drive other cars as long as they're not owned by me. I think most companies do it that way, but i'm open to correction.
Your husband had just bought the car, and was the owner at the time of getting stopped by the police, so I don't think the "drive other cars " option would apply.

That's my understanding of how it works, but i'm not an expert.

You're right. A costly mistake for the OP and her husband unfortunately.

Midnight_EG

There's definitely more to the story, no guard would take a car that quick after buying it if everything else checked out.

tcawley29

Midnight_EG wrote: »

There's definitely more to the story, no guard would take a car that quick after buying it if everything else checked out.

I don't see how. The OPs husband was not insured to drive the car, therefore it should not have been on the road and was lifted.

wonski

Exactly, driving other cars is for occasional driving of other cars with several assumptions and limitations.

Bad lesson for the op unfortunately.

I know this is too late for it now, but never ever buy a car without getting a quote from your insurance company first so you know you can afford it etc, and, if needed, collecting the car while they are open, it takes few minutes to arrange the cover.

Unfortunately your husband will be done for driving without insurance most likely. I would still contact the insurance company and good lawyer and see what the terms were, who knows, maybe there is still a chance of "getting away" with it.

wonski

Midnight_EG wrote: »

There's definitely more to the story, no guard would take a car that quick after buying it if everything else checked out.

Bringing himself to the attention of Gardai by speeding, what else do you need to do to be done when uninsured?

Gardai traffic twitter full of this.

coffeepls

My sister bought a car last week but as the insurance couldn’t be done at the time (it was after 4pm, the insurance co had reduced office hours and there was nobody there), she wasn’t able to take her new car home till the following insurance company working day when it was all sorted.

Why would you drive off in a new car not even knowing what the insurance company had to say about it. Ah well. And speeding. 120 in a 100 zone. And a child in the uninsured car too. Really.
Especially at the moment when there’s a lack of traffic on the road - speeding stands out like a sore thumb. A lot of chances taken here.
Points on the licence will bump that insurance right up now for a few years. A very hard lesson.

vandriver

coffeepls wrote: »

My sister bought a car last week but as the insurance couldn’t be done at the time (it was after 4pm, the insurance co had reduced office hours and there was nobody there), she wasn’t able to take her new car home till the following insurance company working day when it was all sorted.

Why would you drive off in a new car not even knowing what the insurance company had to say about it. Ah well. And speeding. 120 in a 100 zone. And a child in the uninsured car too. Really.
Especially at the moment when there’s a lack of traffic on the road - speeding stands out like a sore thumb. A lot of chances taken here.
Points on the licence will bump that insurance right up now for a few years. A very hard lesson.

Driving while uninsured is seen as an awful lot more serious than a few points.

sabinalee

Awful lesson, yes.
Thank you all for your time.

beauf

Some policies dont have drive all cars option. People should not assume they have it either. Check your policy.

sabinalee

beauf wrote: »

Some policies dont have drive all cars option. People should not assume they have it either. Check your policy.

We do owe this option. Did check, not assumed.
Just could not get it to read it clearly.

Costly mistake with loosing driving licence, job and savings.

Water2626262

I have this option but was told that I had to register my new car when I changed it (I’d enquired if it was ok to pick it up on a Saturday without notifying them or something).

Also needed to register garage cars when I was getting work done.

cruizer101

Unfortunate but not sure there is much you can do.
Ring the insurance company and see what they say.

Last car I bought I had arranged to pick it up one evening then couldn't get through to the insurance.
The seller offered to date the reg cert for the next day meaning when I picked the car up it wouldn't have been mine so insurance would have covered but I decided to hang on til got in touch with insurance.
That may have been an option for you but too late now.

beauf

sabinalee wrote: »

We do owe this option. Did check, not assumed.
Just could not get it to read it clearly.

Costly mistake with loosing driving licence, job and savings.

I wasn't referring to you. There have been previous threads where people assume all policies have it, and been caught out.

Unfortunate for you certainly. You should see a solicitor get proper representation considering the potential impact.

the_syco

Midnight_EG wrote: »

There's definitely more to the story, no guard would take a car that quick after buying it if everything else checked out.

I'm guessing that the hubbie was hitting more than 120;

sabinalee wrote: »

My husband was doing about 120km/h ( testing the power?) on the road up to 100km/h and the gards stopped him! I pulled as well, but he did not let me to talk and told me to go back to the car.
The seized the car!
No insurance.

And the cops saw speeding & found no insurance.

TBH, speeding the moment you get the car is silly, as you don't know how the brakes/steering will react.

sabinalee

It's really ok. I do not mind to hear anyone's opinion.
It is unfortunate, but being such naive thinking we will be ok without proper insurance is even more painful.
My brain is boiling.
We have to collect the car first and pay 120e for being towed...

If anyone who think about buying car and driving without organizded insurance - do not do it!!!!!!!!

We were locked for 2 months, being so happy finally we can travel more....
Quick end of happiness.

the_syco

sabinalee wrote: »

In age of 53 my husband will get his first point, court visit, fine, loosing licence….ban...and we are shocked.

Get a good solicitor who can advise you how to mitigate the damage.

db

As others have said get a good solicitor. There may be a loophole where the car was not officially in your name yet. As English is not your first language you will need representation to get the lowest punishment possible.

El Gato De Negocios

Get all the insurance documents together for the policy he does have - policy schedule, certificate and disc of insurance and go to the Garda station. As your husband is not a native English speaker, tell the guards that he misinterpreted the policy wording and thought that he automatically had driving of other cars on any car and that he did not realise that it did not cover a car he owned. You arent lying as he obviously did not know about this exclusion.

He has a valid policy as it is so its not like he was driving with no insurance whatsoever. The Gardai are well within their rights to prosecute for driving with no insurance but in my opinion that would be pretty harsh, especially as it was a Sunday and no insurers operate on Sundays.

Throw yourselves at the mercy of the Guards and hope that they take a sympathetic view.

coylemj

cruizer101 wrote: »

Last car I bought I had arranged to pick it up one evening then couldn't get through to the insurance.
The seller offered to date the reg cert for the next day meaning when I picked the car up it wouldn't have been mine so insurance would have covered but I decided to hang on til got in touch with insurance.
That may have been an option for you but too late now.

Post-dating the change of ownership might help with the tax disc, especially if you buy a secondhand car close to the end of the month but it will do nothing for insurance. You paid the guy for the car, at which point you owned it so when you drove it, you were not insured.

cruizer101

coylemj wrote: »

Post-dating the change of ownership might help with the tax disc, especially if you buy a secondhand car close to the end of the month but it will do nothing for insurance. You paid the guy for the car, at which point you owned it so when you drove it, you were not insured.

Yeah I think you are probably right, but does the ownership really change when you hand over money, I'm pretty sure you pay for a new car before actually taking ownership of it. The reg cert is the official change of ownership so why wouldn't the date on it count. I don't know for sure either way.

I decided against doing anyway because of the greyness of it and even if true I would only have 3rd party insurance.

El Gato De Negocios

cruizer101 wrote: »

Yeah I think you are probably right, but does the ownership really change when you hand over money, I'm pretty sure you pay for a new car before actually taking ownership of it. The reg cert is the official change of ownership so why wouldn't the date on it count. I don't know for sure either way.

I decided against doing anyway because of the greyness of it and even if true I would only have 3rd party insurance.

Once money changes hands and especially if the car is in your possession you are the owner.

ELM327

You should have said that you bought the car, and he was driving your new car home.
Pretty standard tbh.

Although the speeding is idiotic.

tcawley29

ELM327 wrote: »

You should have said that you bought the car, and he was driving your new car home.
Pretty standard tbh.

Although the speeding is idiotic.

Driving other cars does not count for cars owned by a spouse as far as I know

zg3409

tcawley29 wrote: »

Driving other cars does not count for cars owned by a spouse as far as I know

It varies by policy. Even the same company can have multiple different rules on different policies with some catches on one policy but not another.

I think bringing insurance paperwork to Gardai with proof of change of ownership on day of being stopped is a good idea. Most Gardai are reasonable and if you are brought to court get a good solicitor as suggested.

Luap

I would be getting onto the person you bought the car from - if they have a valid insurance cert for the car still. You can produce your own cert with the driving of other cars and that the owner gave you permission to drive the car?

Eggs For Dinner

Luap wrote: »

I would be getting onto the person you bought the car from - if they have a valid insurance cert for the car still. You can produce your own cert with the driving of other cars and that the owner gave you permission to drive the car?

If I sold you my car and you approached me to get involved in fraud, I'd be on to the Gardai immediately