How doing a good turn can rebound on you

So one of your neighbours wants to borrow your car in order to take his family away on a short holiday for a few days. You are a little concerned that he might damage it in some way, but on the whole he is a pretty good driver so you do not have any real concerns on this score. Unfortunately his car insurance policy does not cover him for any vehicle which does not belong to him, so you have two choices really; buy short term car insurance or let him take the risk. After all, it is his licence which is at stake, not yours, isn't it!

Sadly, that is not the case at all. Under the Road Traffic Act it is not only an offence to drive a vehicle whilst uninsured, it is also an offence to allow one to be driven uninsured as well. If your friend drove off on a public highway, or even parked the car on one, without first of all making sure that he was fully insured under the requirements of the act he would lay you open to a charge of permitting a vehicle to be driven whilst uninsured. This could cause you to not only receive a substantial fine; not only get points on your licence which, if you've got too many, could lead to you being disqualified from driving for a while; but it would also make future car insurance very difficult indeed for you to buy at any sort of reasonable price!

It follows therefore that if your friend was pulled up by the police for any reason and his insurance details were checked as a matter of routine, not only would he end up in court but you probably would also.

If you add to that the fact that, in the event of an accident, the owner of the other vehicle may well come to you for compensation for damages to his vehicle or, heaven forbid, injuries to himself or others as well, you may come to the conclusion that spending a few pounds on short term car insurance would have been a very good investment indeed.

Another point to consider would be the possibility of damage to your own vehicle in an accident; there are few things in life more guaranteed to ruin a friendship than someone damaging someone else's car and not having enough money to pay for the repairs! So, if you are going to buy some short-term car insurance in order to protect both your friend and yourself from possible criminal proceedings, as well as a pontentially huge financial loss.