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
 

Home