If my car is fully insured

[mpott51]

if my car is fully insured and i lent my car to someone with a license and they got into a car accident and totalled the car! Am i able to collect for damages?

[R1Geezer]

no, but if they turn out to be uninsured then you can be prosecuted and then the other party's insurers would probably pursue you privately. Your own insurers would use this to run a mile. You are clear if the person you lent it to has insurance to drive your car, at least third party you own insurance largely irrelevant here.

[R1Geezer]

sorry answered wrong question. If the person you lent it to had fully comp then yes, otherwise any third party would be covered only.

[Ethel]

Fully comp does not automatically mean they are covered to drive any other car - in fact the majority of comprehensive insurances do not have this cover any more.

So, you can have fully comp on your car, and your mate can have fully comp on his. If he drives your car he probably is not insured UNLESS his insurance says 'any other vehicle' OR your insurance states 'any other driver'.

Even if he is insured, it will not cover damage to your car.

[R1Geezer]

what I meant Ethel is that in all probablilty the person to who the car was lent would not have fully comp on what to them would be someone elses car but if they did then yes. So probably mpott51 you wouldn't get anything. Is this a hypothetical question?

[Buenchico]

Just to try to bring together the essential elements of the answers above:

1. If the guy who was driving your car was not responsible for the accident, you can sue the driver who caused the accident (who will refer the matter to his insurer, who'll pay you). That applies even if there was no valid insurance covering the person you lent the car to. (However, that doesn't prevent you both being prosecuted if no insurance was in place. See '4' below).

The following applies if the guy driving your car was responsible for the accident:

2. If the other driver is a 'named driver' on your comprehensive insurance (or in the very unlikely case of you having a policy which allows anyone to drive your car, while retaining full cover), you can successfully claim against your insurer.

3. If the other driver has his own insurance policy, for a different vehicle, (and that insurance covers him to drive any other vehicle), he'll have been driving legally but you can't claim a penny from his insurer (because his 'any vehicle' cover will be '3rd party only'). However, you can sue the guy who was driving your car, to get him to pay you from his own pocket.

4. If there was no valid insurance in place, you can still sue the guy driving your car, forcing him to pay out of his own pocket. However, both of you have committed a criminal offence. You both face 6 to 8 points on your licence and a fine of up to �5000.

Chris