Had an accident in driving instructors car - he said I have to pay for it

[Yupbabs]

A question for uk learner drivers

I had a driving lesson today and I had an accident, I took the wing mirror off when passing a parked car. Instructor said he’ll try to lower the price as much as possible but he’ll be in touch with how much I need to pay. Is this right? Do I need to pay? My previous driving instructor said if there was an accident then his insurance covers the damage

I feel like he’s trying to con me. This was the first lesson I ever had with the guy, I had about 50 lessons with my other instructor and he made sure I didn’t have any accidents by using the dual control. This guy today just tilted the steering wheel away from the parked car and it still hit it.

DVSA recommend 45 hours of lessons plus 20 hours of private practise. Considering a lot of people rush to their driving test which may account for the below 50% pass rate.

OP I am sorry this happened to you. Please don't give up driving. I would be looking for another instructor though. There are plenty of videos on YouTube of dash cam camera compilations to show you how many qualified drives mess up every single day. Mistakes happen, to everyone.

@GemmaEatsGrapes mistakes happen. Nearly veering into cars ‘once or twice a lesson’ after 50 lessons shouldn’t.

Indeed.

When I was googling, I looked on the BSM website and they sell/recommend a company that sells learner driver insurance.

That said, it doesn't cover the learner driver in a driving instructors' car. It covers them in another car that they're learning in (such as family members' cars, etc), to save the owner of that car from having to claim on their own insurance if something like this happened.

It is not a requirement to have separate insurance.

Yes, a learner could be prosecuted for breaking the law, but in terms of the costs of repairing a car it is covered on the instructors' insurance.

It’s hard to find decent honest instructors nowadays. Most of them are trying to scam learners and exploit them. Especially people like you OP who are scared, they try to take advantage of you. It’s all scare tactics. Don’t worry too much about this. All I would say is report the instructor, report the incident. You won’t have to pay for this and no insurance company is gonna contact you to pay anything.

keep trying, 50 hours really isn’t that much.

No. You don't.

No he has insurance for this

I think people are talking about 2 different things here:

1. If a leaner is in a driving instructor vehicle and there is an accident, who is liable for the damage?

2. If a learner commits a driving offence whilst in a vehicle, who do the police go after?

He what?! Ok so he’s broken the law. Well you both have.

You need to report it.

I'm amazed at this for several reasons.

1. His insurance should cover it.
2. You've already had 50 lessons with another instructor and still drove close enough to another car to clip the wing mirror?
3. Surely as he's the qualified instructor, he should have been aware you were too close and taken evasive action using the dual controls?

You're not liable to pay for any damage to the car - that comes under the instructors insurance.

However if you were caught speeding or running a red light, it would be your responsibility to pay for any fines - and the points would go on your license.

They're two separate issues.

Uh, no. I don’t need to do any research. OP is responsible and will have to declare this accident on insurance applications. Legally she is responsible, though the instructor will have insurance which covers her. She still holds legal responsibility.

If learner drivers were liable for damage etc they would have to have their own insurance. This will be covered by his insurance. OP I’m sorry you’ve had this experience.

Your screenshot means that the "driving school" is no such thing, and just acts as an agent. Still doesn't make you liable - you haven't signed anything that accepts liability. The instructor will have insurance and is just chancing the hope that you are too naive to know this, so as to avoid having his premiums go up.

The whole point of learning in a dual control car is so that an experienced instructor is actually in control. The instructor was the person in control of the car, and he is the person at fault, not you. Don't pay a penny, and find a different instructor who isn't such an asswipe.

Have you passed your theory test?

it’s reasonable to assume after 50 lessons you would know the basics. And leaving the scene of an accident / not hitting cars is basic.

1. if there’s no damage there’s nothing to pay.

2. his insurance should cover damage.

3. you HAVE to report the accident to the police as details weren’t exchanged at the scene. Ignorance of the law isn’t a defence.

@Shamdyhandy some people take longer to grasp all the skills including judging space between them and parked cars, driving instructors on YouTube have demonstrated the difference between some learner drivers picking things up fast and others needing more time. In fact these same driving instructors offer mock tests for non-pupils to test their skills and there are several of these mock tests that show a lot of grabbing of the wheel to steer away from parked cars. I have watched so many of these with Dc1 who passed their test first time last year but also had access to my car to practise and did at least 300 miles in my car with both me and Dh.

We don't know how tight the road was in which OP was driving. You should watch the dash cam compilation videos, all of these people featured have a full driving license and still fuck up. There are hundreds of them.

I would argue that a learner could have grounds to dispute the responsibility of paying any fines and ask for a refund from the driving instructor if these fines however, I can’t argue with the law so any points would be issued to the person driving the car at the time of the offence be that a running a red light, speeding or a hit and run.

Don’t you DARE pay anything OP - this guy is a cheeky effing chancer!

The fact he didn’t even stop and take a bite of the car reg or leave a note with his number on the car shows he’s dodgy AF - he’s clearly hoping to pocket a quick few quid out of you.

1. Don’t pay anything
2. Find another driving instructor
3. Do NOT let this put you off carrying on lessons - you’ll regret not passing your test if you give up and every big break you take from lessons will set you back again - just get another instructor asap

ive been driving for 20+ years and took someone’s wing mirror off a few months ago after 20 years no claims! It’s just one of those things and doesn’t mean you’re not a good driver. Ignore the idiots on here saying otherwise.

However -

a search by insurance firms won't find any claims made for / against such a driver BECAUSE learner drivers don't have insurance.

Insurance firms have access to a list of accidents / cars involved / insured parties involved.

The accident will be on there (if it goes through insurance) but there will be no policy linked to the OP because learner drivers do not have insurance

• note not bite

OP a few things.

You should have stopped the car to check for damage. You could be done for leaving the scene of an accident.

The jargon on their website is nothing to do with driving. At all. They should have rock solid insurance for any and all accidents. You should not be paying for any damage.

You were a bit (lot) daft not to sign a contract before getting in the car.

Well done for reporting the instructor to the driving school. Hopefully you'll get a refund and the instructor will get their arse handed to them.

We’re still talking about 2 seperate things here so let’s just leave it at that. Breaking the law and paying for damages are 2 separate issues. I am talking about the latter.

My stance on it remains the same. OP is not responsible to pay for any damages done to the car. But the 2 of you keep talking about OP doing something illegal (for not stopping at the scene) I’m not talking about that. The original post was really geared towards whether she should pay or not.

Of course learner drivers have insurance - my son did all his driving practice in his own car under his own insurance.

Of course learner drivers have insurance - my son did all his driving practice in his own car under his own insurance

Learner drivers who go in driving instructor's cars do not have insurance for the driving instructor's car.

At a guess the school are one of these leeching organisations that takes your money to put you in touch with someone, and then throws their hands up when anything goes wrong and says "nofink to do with us guv, honest".

?

Pound to a penny the "instructor" is someone chancing their arm with some stick on decals, and no insurance for teaching.

And if the driving school let that slip, god alone knows what else they haven't checked. DBS springs to mind, as a bare minimum.

See also: Uber, AirBnB and any other number of modern "disruptor" startups.

You dont have to have insurance though if you are only driving in an instructore car. This is surely covered by their own driving instructor insurance. Surely they have to have public liability insurance as well as a business.

Learners only need learner insurance if they are prcaticing in their own or parent's car. And it only covers them in that car.