Car Impounded!
John, a friend of mine had
his car impounded two weeks ago. It was his own fault.
His insurance was due but the premium had shot up as a
result of a speeding conviction he received a a few
months ago. He was hurrying down the motorway to meet a
new girlfriend and he went through a speed camera at 80
mph. A fine and three points on his licence was bad
enough, but he didn't expect his renewal premium to
shoot up as well.
He decided to go to a price comparison site and he chose
confused.com. He
got a few quotes which were less than his renewal
premium, but he still thought they were too high.
However his head was full of this new girlfriend and he
put it off for a couple of days. He wasn't going to
drive until he had renewed the policy so he thought he
didn't have a problem.
Unfortunately that is not the way things work. His car
was parked on the roadway and it was spotted by a police
officer with a device in his car that checked
numberplates, and compare them to a database of insured
cars. He found out that the policy on this car hard
expired just 24 hours ago! it wouldn't have been so bad
if John hadn't been sat in the drivers seat at the time!
He hadn't intended to drive it and he was just checking
some CDs in his autochanger. Nevertheless he had the car
keys in his pocket and he was charged with driving
without insurance; even though the car hadn't even been
started! he was handed a notice of intended prosecution.
A low loader truck arrived an hour later and his car was
impounded and taken off to a police pound three miles
away!
John renewed his insurance right away and went to
collect his car. However a friendly but firm officer at
the pound pointed out that the policy specifically
excluded driving an impounded motor vehicle! This put
John into a panic because he knew that if the car wasn't
collected within two weeks of impoundment it would be
either crushed or sold by the police authorities!
He was lucky; he managed to get insurance cover for his
impounded car from
impoundedcarinsurance.co.uk. He took the policy
documents down to the pound, along with his logbook,
driving licence and proof of identity and drove his car
home.
Needless to say he had to pay some pretty hefty bills
for the towing away of his car and the time it spent in
the pound. That wasn't the end of the matter though!
John had failed to tell the insurance company about the
notice of intended prosecution. They found out, and he
still doesn't know how, but they cancelled his insurance
policy on the spot. He tried to get policy elsewhere but
he had to tell them about the fact that he had had
insurance declined and he could not find anyone to cover
him. Eventually he went to a broker who specialised in
high risk insurance and got a policy, but it cost him
three times what his original insurer had charged him.
He is now waiting to go to court to answer a charge of
driving whilst uninsured. He has spoken to a solicitor
who tells him that he hasn't got a chance of getting off
with it, since he was admittedly in charge of the
vehicle at the time, even though it wasn't moving. He is
expecting a large fine, as well as points on his driving
licence.
Altogether is now several thousand pounds out of pocket;
all because he put off buying an insurance policy for 24
hours
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