Temporary car insurance, and your driving licence

 The economy is in tatters, the world is in turmoil, the government is a load of rubbish and things are getting worse. It's no wonder that every now and again you next door neighbour comes along and asked to borrow a couple of quid, a bowl of sugar or your car. You can lend him or her the money and the sugar if you so wish, but if you're tempted to land the car then to be very very careful indeed!

Why not make a note: you can buy temporary car insurance here or from this website!

Very few people seem to realise just what the Road traffic act of 1988 stipulated as regards to car insurance. Come to think of it very few people have ever heard of the Road traffic act anyway, but I digress. What the act spelt out, was that although it is an offence to travel on the roads in a motor vehicle without insurance, which we all know, or at least should know, it is also illegal to permit someone else to do it. That's it; permit someone else to do it. No mention of permitting someone else to do it without realising they didn't have insurance; that isn't anywhere in this act at all. The upshot is that it is your responsibility, and your responsibility alone, to make sure that anybody who borrows your car is fully insured within the meaning of the Road traffic act, otherwise you are committing an offence and you are likely to finish up in court!

You may well argue that this is completely undemocratic, and if old Charlie who you've known for 20 years tells you he's insured, well, he's insured. The problem is Charlie may be a very good doorman, heavy goods vehicle driver, butcher, whatever, but that doesn't mean to say that he's ever taken a look at any insurance policies he has bought in the last 20 years, and in that he is in good company, because something like 60% of the population of Britain have never really looked at an insurance policy and understood the contents! So, if you lend your car to Charlie and he gets pulled by the law, you had better hope and pray that she really is insured, otherwise you are for the high jump as well!

There is a way round this. If you ever lend your car out to someone, point out to them that even if they are insured to drive it under their own policy which covers vehicles not belonging to them, this cover is almost certainly third-party only which means that if they borrow your car and bump it you, or they, will have to stump up to pay for the damage; it will not be paid for by the insurance company. So, all you do is insist that they take out temporary fully comprehensive car insurance, which they can do online for anywhere between one day right up to 28 days, and it will not cost them a fortune either! This way, you can be certain that if they do crash your car you will not have to pay for the repairs yourself, and if they do get pulled by the boys in blue you are not going to end up in court facing the possible loss of your own driving licence because of someone else's inability to read a car insurance policy properly!