Protecting yourself with temporary car insurance

If you lend a car to a friend the last thing on earth you will be thinking about will be the danger of your friend being prosecuted for driving without insurance, because you would assume that he or she would be far too sensible to do that. You would certainly not be thinking about the possibility that you yourself could lose your driving licence as a result! Both of these scenarios are entirely possible; let me explain.

The police are extremely good at picking up people who are driving cars whilst uninsured. They do this by a variety of means, not least of all the MID, or motor insurers database, which lists insurance details of every car which is covered by a UK insurer. They also is a matter of routine check the insurance details of any driver who is pulled up for even a minor driving offence, or even those who they suspect may have committed one.

If you have made your car to someone and for any reason at all that person is asked to produce an insurance certificate, you really need that certificate to be produced! You see, if after all that person is not insured you are in severe trouble; you will have permitted a vehicle to be on the road without an insurance policy to cover that vehicle, in contravention of the road traffic act of 1988!

Understandably, you will be quite upset about this but will point out that you had no means of knowing that the driver was uninsured, but sadly this will cut no ice. The offence is what is called an 'absolute offence'; in other words, if you have permitted this person to drive your car, and this person is not insured, then you are guilty of the offence. The only valid an acceptable defence against the charge that will inevitably be brought against you would be to claim that the person concerned have no authority to be driving the vehicle, and that you would not have given permission for person to drive the vehicle. As you can imagine, that would mean that the person had taken and driven away your vehicle without your knowledge, which in itself is another criminal offence. When you again before the magistrates you would be able to explain that you were sure that the person would have been insured, but you will still be convicted; however the bench may accept that you genuinely did believe this, and they may be slightly lenient, but you would still be convicted of what is a criminal offence.

If someone borrows your car that person may be insured, maybe not. In most cases you have no real way of telling; short of asking this person to produce a cover note to prove it one way or the other. Some people can produce their cover note quite easily, quite a lot of others do not have a clue where it is, so this could create a problem! It is also quite embarrassing if someone states that he or she is insured, and you ask for evidence of this; you are obviously not taking the persons word for it, but you really have no choice; there is so much at stake.

Alternatively, you could suggest that the person takes out a fully comprehensive temporary insurance policy from this website!! This will mean that if the car is bumped it will be covered against any damage; but it will also make certain that the driver complies with the Road Traffic Act, and that you can rest in your bed secure in the knowledge that you are not going to be appearing before your local magistrates in the near future.