[Wintertime]

Advice please- I drove my son’s
car, which he has left on my driveway while away and I had a flat tyre, thinking as I had 3rd party insurance to drive any car, I was covered. Stupidly I had not thought this through to check his car was insured- this had expired.
While stationary at traffic lights, another car took the whole of my driver side out and also rendered it unable to drive damaging the steering.
Driver went off and kind witnesses managed to bring them back plus call police and offer to be witnesses.
When the police came, they found I was driving an uninsured car. They were pleasant and realised it was an honest mistake.
Please can anybody advise can I claim for my car written off and how do I do this?
Thank you.

[Beelzebub]

You can't claim - it isn't your car.

Your son can, and the at-fault party should pay. The fact that the driver wasn't insured doesn't make any difference to that.

But ... if the police follow up on this, you're looking at six points and a penalty (£300 from memory) for driving without insurance.

[TC1474]

Originally Posted by Beelzebub

You can't claim - it isn't your car.

Your son can, and the at-fault party should pay. The fact that the driver wasn't insured doesn't make any difference to that.

But ... if the police follow up on this, you're looking at six points and a penalty (£300 from memory) for driving without insurance.

Wrong.

Yes the OP can claim even though it was not his car and it was uninsured.

The OP should not have been on the road as no insurance is an absolute offence, but in civil law it will be deemed that if it were not for the negligence of the third party then damage would not have occurred in the first place.

It is the same rule that is applied as if someone had been insured whilst driving whilst disqualified for example.

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by TC1474

Wrong.

Yes the OP can claim even though it was not his car and it was uninsured.

The OP should not have been on the road as no insurance is an absolute offence, but in civil law it will be deemed that if it were not for the negligence of the third party then damage would not have occurred in the first place.

It is the same rule that is applied as if someone had been insured whilst driving whilst disqualified for example.

But the OP has not suffered a loss. What can he claim for?

[TC1474]

Originally Posted by Beelzebub

But the OP has not suffered a loss. What can he claim for?

In civil law damage to the vehicle is regarded as a loss even though the OP is not the owner, so the cost of repair or replacement can be claimed.

The repairs have a cost that would not have occurred but for the third party. Those costs are regarded as a loss!