My 20 year old nephew as his first car and did everything by the book insuring it in his own name, while driving along a car pulls out on him and wrights his car off.

Two blokes of Eastern European appearance are in the other car, no insurance, no licence etc.

When the police catch up with the blokes they deny any knowledge of an accident or ownership of a car which as now long gone.

Young drivers take a lot of stick but its not always their fault.

:rant:

Sadly this happens all the time. People stick to the rules, adhere to the policies and keep their noses clean, and the very first time they make a mistake theyre dumped upon from a great height.

Then there are people who buy unroadworthy vehicles, dont tax them, dont insure them, dont even have a drivers licence in most cases, yet they drive merrily around for YEARS before they get caught.
And when they do finally get caught? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The sad thing is the police and Insurance Company just sigh; after all they see it every day.

So whats going to happen to the lad? Is he going to have to fork out for a new car without any help at all from anyone?

I'll second this, ive passed my test five years ago in July, but could only afford a car 18months ago, because of the expense.

Even then, i went halves with my boyfirend otherwise i would still be saving now!

Its the price of the insurance that gets me! & we dont even have a suped up boy racers car!

£1k for the first year £600 for second. Lets hope year three gets even better! & no we've never claimed either!

Hope your nephews ok, and it hasnt put him off driving!

So whats going to happen to the lad? Is he going to have to fork out for a new car without any help at all from anyone?

He had only just got it back after paying £160 for a new window after somebody had taken a fancy to his CD player now this.

Due to the horrendous costs of insurance for under 21`s he was only insured third party, so now he will be left with a car loan to pay off and no car to drive.

I once heard of a scheme to cover drivers in his situation but I am not sure if that’s only for fully comprehensive policies, he will have to wait and see.

He can claim against the uninsured loss scheme (can't remember the name) which is used to cover incidents like this.
It has a large excess though, something like £400.

I was hit by a taxi driver about 15 years ago and he seemed very genuine, even waited for the police to arrive, but when they didnt he left me his name and address and I got the reg and taxi firm number and he left.

I had a couple of witnesses, but the driver fled to his country of origin and was never to be seen again he was not insured.

I was fully comp and made a claim. I got the repairs done but had to pay excess and lost my no claims bonus (which was about 5 years). I tried to persue it further with the police and contacted the drivers home address the occupants could not speak english and just said "hes gone".

Unfortunately for me "no claims bonus" is not classed as an uninsured loss so I had to leave it and get on with it. The taxi firm refused to accept any liability as they are not responsible for making sure their drivers are insured.

To cap it all I was made redundant from work the next day :o

The taxi firm refused to accept any liability as they are not responsible for making sure their drivers are insured.

:o

Can they do this?

Apparantly they could, dont know how it stands today, but the taxi firm said "we only rent out the radio"

I was shocked at this as how many of us get in a taxi and ask if the driver is insured?

Apparantly they could, dont know how it stands today, but the taxi firm said "we only rent out the radio"

I was shocked at this as how many of us get in a taxi and ask if the driver is insured?

I know it is too late now but in actual fact the taxi company was liable the taxi company have "duty of care" to the customers and it is up to the company to ensure the driver was insured before they rent the radio to them.

My 20 year old nephew as his first car and did everything by the book insuring it in his own name, while driving along a car pulls out on him and wrights his car off.

Two blokes of Eastern European appearance are in the other car, no insurance, no licence etc.

When the police catch up with the blokes they deny any knowledge of an accident or ownership of a car which as now long gone.

Young drivers take a lot of stick but its not always their fault.

:rant:

Confusing, if these people can't provide insurance details, then the police should have been called at the scene of the accident?

Anyway, the point of the insurance in this case would be if your nephew had been injured, then they would payout to cover the cost of his treatment.

So.. in essence, it is still essential to have insurance, even if others parties don't.

Can they do this?

I don't believe they can, if this had gone to court I'm sure the cab company would be liable (at least today, not sure about back then). It's pretty clear that cab drivers are "agents" for the company they work for. As such I'd say the company has an obligation to ensure their drivers are correctly insured, as well as a duty of care to their customers and the public at large.

If for example a cab crashed and the driver was uninsured, I can't imagine the company would escape liability.

Confusing, if these people can't provide insurance details, then the police should have been called at the scene of the accident?

Anyway, the point of the insurance in this case would be if your nephew had been injured, then they would payout to cover the cost of his treatment.

So.. in essence, it is still essential to have insurance, even if others parties don't.

At the time of the accident everything looks plausible, its only after you find out the truth, there is no requirement to carry or show documents only to exchange details and the police are not bothered if nobody is injured.

The only thing that was right was his phone number, the car isn’t registered in his name, he denies owning a car, denies being in an accident, no insurance etc.

In other words he just walks away and buys another dodgy car with no documents and he is on the road again.

If my nephew had been injured would third party insurance pay for his injuries, I don’t think so they would only cover third party liabilities.

I used to work with somebody that got his car hit by a car full of kids who all jumped out and did a runner, he recovered is loses through some scheme as cyclone says but I am not sure if that’s only for fully-comp drivers.

I don't believe they can, if this had gone to court I'm sure the cab company would be liable (at least today, not sure about back then). It's pretty clear that cab drivers are "agents" for the company they work for. As such I'd say the company has an obligation to ensure their drivers are correctly insured, as well as a duty of care to their customers and the public at large.

If for example a cab crashed and the driver was uninsured, I can't imagine the company would escape liability.

Taxi companies may have fully insured drivers and do everything by the book but what’s stopping the registered driver “lending” is badge and car to a mate or a member of his family to keep the taxi working 24/7.

You only have to look at the recent case of Pete Doherty to see why people don't bother with insurance. He got fined £200 for having no insurance, which will have been much, much less than taking insurance out on a Jag. Even when they get caught it works out cheaper! :evil:

friend of mine got bumped on the motorway, but his car overturned up a banking and landed upside down! they turned out to be polish, uninsured, no tax or license, and now dissapeared! only reason he's still alive is because he had recently got a new car, and only reason he could afford to keep living is because he got injured and could get compensation for his injuries!! crazy!

I don't believe they can, if this had gone to court I'm sure the cab company would be liable (at least today, not sure about back then). It's pretty clear that cab drivers are "agents" for the company they work for. As such I'd say the company has an obligation to ensure their drivers are correctly insured, as well as a duty of care to their customers and the public at large.

If for example a cab crashed and the driver was uninsured, I can't imagine the company would escape liability.I'm reasonably sure that taxi companies don't employ drivers, but instead it's the other way round - drivers pay firms hundreds of pounds a month for the radio, which is where all their jobs come from. So holding the taxi company responsible for the actions of people not employed by the company driving taxis that don't belong to the company is a little unfair!