Are unaccompanied provisional car drivers insured?

smceneaney

Hi,
I am a full license driver while my partner is a named driver with a provisional license. She is currently on her fourth provisional license and is not supposed to be driving unaccompanied. The problem is that she is driving the car on her own. Do any of you know what the story is with insurance? I haven't managed to get a straight answer from the insurance company - Quinn direct. Is she insured if she's in a crash? Are the cops enforcing this law? Anybody know where I can get info on this?

Cheers.

Shane

seamus

Afaik, unless it states quite clearly on your insurance that unaccompanied drivers are not covered, then she's covered. The only other way they could enforce it would be to say that "This policy does not cover an accident where the driver is driving outside of the law", but afaik, they can't do that.

I had a crash on my first provisional unaccompanied, and Quinn Direct paid up, no questions asked.

smceneaney

Hi Seamus,
thanks for the response. That's good to know. I figured that would be the case. The insurance company couldn't put a clause like that on the policy. You're covered if you drive without a seat belt or even when you're drunk and in both cases you're breaking the law.

Thanks again.

Shane

Chimaera

I would imagine she would only be covered for third party damage though - I somehow don't think that the insurance company will cover your own losses if you're driving illegally.

I personally have no sympathy for anyone who doesn't pass their test on the second attempt at most. The test is not even remotely difficult if you get lessons from a decent instructor and put in the hours on the road inbetween.

vasch_ro

as far as i know this law is being enforced I heard a lot of people rumbling about it on the radio, so I wouls advise your partner to pass asap !!!
plus the way things are going there will penalty pints for it soon !!!

Spunj

Hmmm i think my cert reads something like 'Persons covered : people who who hold or having held a license n the past...'.

Not sure if a provisional counts as a licence on those terms?
I had checked that when i had forgotten to renew mine and I was covered for the 3 weeks where I had no license.

Check your policy is all I can advise and ask the company if they consider a provisional to be a license in that sense.

smceneaney

Thanks for the responses. My partner failed her first test. She is on her third provisional now (correction) and applied immediately after she failed two months ago. It hasn't been easy for provisional drivers with this new law as there is a very long waiting list. Up to six months in places it appears. There is extra pressure on the driver to pass when they are faced with the prospect of being off the road.

Cheers,

Shane

google it

my partner is also on her third provisional in Cork ... the waiting list is over 6 months for a test.... her second provisional ran out 4 months after she applied, and she was without a license for two months until she got a letter from the driving test people and she could get a license with that ....
Murphys law came into effect when she had no valid license (of course)... some muppet drove into the back of her at a traffic lights and the guards were called (by thje muppet, I belive that he thought the guards would side with him because my wife had a L-Plate up)...she had her out of date second license on her ... the guards were nice about it and said that a lot of people were in the same boat .... all ended well as the muppet took responsibility and paid for the damage to my wifes car (all this happened 2 1/2 months ago)
Before anyone starts complaining, we live in the country and must have cars, otherwise we have to stay at home, or walk 3 miles just to get to a bus to get into town...its very easy to criticise peoples choices about driving without a license, but there are sometimes mitigating circumstances

Seth Brundle

I believe that the companies now will pay out a claim against a unqualified driver driving unaccompanied but they will then sue the driver to get their money back (incl. any charges)

BeatTun

excuse my ignorance now.........but should somebody who is on a FOURTH provisional even be driving at all?

lemondrop

Originally posted by Chimaera
I would imagine she would only be covered for third party damage though - I somehow don't think that the insurance company will cover your own losses if you're driving illegally.

I personally have no sympathy for anyone who doesn't pass their test on the second attempt at most. The test is not even remotely difficult if you get lessons from a decent instructor and put in the hours on the road inbetween.

You should go to Wicklow Town where it has the lowest pass rate in the country at only 46ish%......also, if you look at the rules of the road and notice the parking rules and then go to Wicklow youll see that the registered pay parking breaks everyone of these rules! It is not very far to expect ppl to do their test in a town that breaks the law with regards to parking...Thats not the only thing either. The driving instructers of Wicklow have been wanting a meeting with the test ppl about these issues and after much pressure and ignored letters they finally got it. Not only that but good driving instructers as you call them suggest to many ppl to go and do their test in Churchtown or a different centre....does this seem fair when you are advise to do it out of you county to sit your test??? The driving test is meant to be a test to see if you can drive safely...well then surely all test should be conducted in the same environment....i could see quite a few complaints coming then!!! I think ill do my test in Shannon.....70% pass rate....pretty good, well i guess there's probably not a lot of traffic or anything like that.

commuterised

Originally posted by lemondrop
You should go to Wicklow Town where it has the lowest pass rate in the country at only 46ish%......

Where did you get these statistics, I passed in Wicklow....

also, if you look at the rules of the road and notice the parking rules and then go to Wicklow youll see that the registered pay parking breaks everyone of these rules!

what's the story with the pay parking?????!!!!!

lemondrop

Originally posted by commuterised
Where did you get these statistics, I passed in Wicklow....

also, if you look at the rules of the road and notice the parking rules and then go to Wicklow youll see that the registered pay parking breaks everyone of these rules!

what's the story with the pay parking?????!!!!!

A report was released at the beginning of the year giving all the test centres and pass rates. As for the parking breaking the Law, thats obvious, youre not allowed park on a bend, within a certain distance of a humpback bridge, junction all of which are ignored. The pay parking just meaning that its registered by the Wicklow County Council ie. they know its there and theyve made it "legal" even though its illegal if you are following the published Rules of the Road that you learn for your test........

Silent Bob

Originally posted by Chimaera
I personally have no sympathy for anyone who doesn't pass their test on the second attempt at most. The test is not even remotely difficult if you get lessons from a decent instructor and put in the hours on the road inbetween.

For my second test I got an old bloke of about 70 as a tester. We went out to the car and did the usual brake/indicator checking. Then he wanders over to check the tax and insurance discs.

Tax was fine.

Being a company car the insurance disc was for the company policy and just said 'group' (as in, group insurance. Along with all the other details of course:)).

Said tester then gets into the car and tells me that I'm not insured to drive the car and that he will not let me take the test. I had to argue with him for a full 5 minutes. Then he decides to back to the centre to "discuss" the matter with someone else in there.
He comes back 5 minutes later, tells me that the person he wanted to talk to wasn't there and says (in an annoyed tone of voice, though I may be biased on this:)) "We've wasted enough time already, get on with it."

Needless to say he failed me.

I wrote a letter of complaint to the Department and they instigated an investigation. The tester completely denied my story (other than to say that he left me in the car for 2 minutes. I had a clock on the dash in front of me :rolleyes: )

End of investigation, my word against his, his word won.

Fortunately the person in the department with whom I was dealing was very decent about it and got me another test within 3 weeks. This was passed without difficulty

Seth Brundle

Don't know if you saw Corrie tonight but it soulds like you had Roy Cropper as a tester - total perfectionist / pedant

Silent Bob

Originally posted by kbannon
Don't know if you saw Corrie tonight but it soulds like you had Roy Cropper as a tester - total perfectionist / pedant

I don't watch Corrie Street and don't have a clue who Roy Cropper is but your description certainly fits the bill

Stephen

The full list of pass rates for each test centre is available at www.drivingtest.ie .