Insurance void due to D&D

Convicted Driver Insurance

Depressed Dad

Established Member
My son has been convicted of DUI.
At the time he had a minor car accident - going into the back on a minicab with 2 passengers.

Insurance will not cover him. It is my car and policy. They will settle the claim with the other driver and the passengers and then pursue my son for the full amount. He does not have to pay for the insurance co effort which is a blessing.

Passengers have jumped on the personal injury bandwagon. Awaiting the claim from the driver.
I have found out through online vehicle check that mincab driver is driving a 10 year old car that has already been written off twice (note to self - only use a reputable mincab firm that insist on newer vehicles)

My son will end up with a massive debt to pay off in addition to his punishment through the courts.

Anyone else had to go through this pain? WOndered how far they go to get their money back and how much effort they put in to reduce the settlement fee.
 
Is your question about how your son can renege on his fiscal responsibilities for causing damage and injury whilst driving when drunk?

Just so we all know.
 
Not quite what I was asking.

I have no issue with him paying for the damage to the other car.
It was clearly his fault. The damage was light to a 10 year old car worth less than £2k (which has been written off twice before).

What I have an issue with is sgining a consent and indemnity form that appears to have unlimited liability. Is that the right thing to do?

The bill may run into many thousands, mainly due to personal injury claims, loss of earnings, car hire charges etc.

In reality the other guy had his rear bumper scratched which amounts to a few hundred quid. I am more than happy to pay to put the car back to it's pre-accident condition. I will pay that on behalf of my son and he can repay me.

Everyone is out to make a few quid. My insurance company will try to reduce the figure but they won't contest the personal injury claim other than making an out of court offer.

When you are covered by the insurance all these costs make no difference. When you are 18, with no assets and little income do you want to sign up to repaying a massive debt for many years? Under the Road Traffic Act my insurance company are obliged to pay the third party costs. They then pursue my son for that cost.

I assume other people on here have been in the same position. I am interested to hear of their experience.
 
I had an accident recently when another van reversed very slowly into the offside rear of my van.

I was telephoned about 6 times by some personal injury company asking if I had any whiplash type symptoms. The callers were rather miffed when I kept saying no.

In addition to this, because there were no independent witnesses both insurers were going to go for a knock for knock settlement, despite the fact that I was stationary and all the evidence of the collision backed up my side of the story. Unbelievably, the other driver claimed that I had reversed my van in a sideways direction and collided with him. Considering that my bill for the repair plus a replacement vehicle must have cost at least £5K, it seems that the insurers really do not give too much of a toss about their own money, what their opinion is of your sons costs I can only imagine.

This is probably not the reassurance you were seeking :(
 
If I were you, I'd speak to a specialist solicitor about this. Signing an indemnity doesn't seem wise to me but then I don't know too much about how these things work. I would certainly want to see a Dr's reports detailing the extent of injury suffered, by the passengers. I'd also be looking at getting the car repaired as soon as possible to minimise the loss of earnings that the cab driver claims for.

It might also be worth verifying the 'lost earnings' based on what the cab drivers declared earnings are (i.e. from how much tax he has been paying). Many of them are self employed and don't declare a lot of what they earn - to avoid paying tax (not a general jibe at cab drivers but I only know two - and neither of them pay much tax, if any at all). It would certainly look odd if he is only reporting earning £150 - £200 a week to the tax man, and then claims for £500 a week of your son.
 
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