Sister in law driving uninsured my husbands car

[Hann111]

We had one of his family members weddings - 3 hours away. We left late and on the way back my sister in law took over driving on his vehicle - motorway driving and gone midnight. She's not insured on his car and I'm pregnant. I'm annoyed that my husband left the wedding so late that he then got his uninsured sister in law to drive his car half of the way. AIBU? Thanks

From bitter experience if they’d been stopped that’s at least 6 points and a fine for both of them - her for doing it and him for allowing her.

That’s only if you have it specifically written into your policy which I’m assuming you must have. If your car is insured for any other driver that’s going to be costing you a bit surely?

She says twice that they left late, not early.

Oh god. What a thing to get worked up about. 🙄

Your acting like she hasn't got a license.

I can't believe the number of PPS thinking it's ok because motorways are safe. It's illegal and they would both get fined and points on their license. Not every fully comp policy allows people to drive other cars as standard.

Just an FYI, to a lot of the PP, driving other cars cover is not now standard on all fully comp policies. A lot of the time it is an add-on. Please don't assume that you have DOC and always check your policy.

And it isn't just fines/points to worry about. In the event of an accident, the driver may end up being responsible for any third party losses.

She might have third party cover at least under her own policy

Lots of hearsay in this post

I'm fully comp on my own car and my policy clearly states that I am NOT insured to driver any other vehicle

Assumption is the mother of all fuckups

Thing is you're all back safely so it's a bit of a moot point. There's enough in life to worry about without the what ifs. Talk to your husband later to express your concerns and your need to feel safe not just for you but for baby too. But really it's done all you can do is ask that it doesn't happen again

Nothing happened so it’s not really worth worrying about.

This isn’t as common as it used to be -you now have to specifically request it from your insurance company.

OP does your dh realise if she’d been caught by police the car would have been seized under S165 of the Road Traffic Act and he would have been charged and had point for cause and permit ?

thanks for your comments. I appreciate the different perspectives. @Queenoftheashes - agree that now it is not worth worrying about as its done, its water under the bridge now.

However I still have no idea if she has that included in her policy (I imagine not tbh if it is extra cost), but from my perspective it was still silly and irresponsible.

My husband also already has 6 points on his license and needs it for his work - so by the sounds of it if they were caught he would lose his working ability too. @JudgeRindersMinder and @Dontfuckingsaycheese - thanks for this info - that’s helpful and I’ll share that so hopefully it doesn’t happen again.

@MandSStoreManager - I had seen a few days before police putting what looked like temporary speed cameras down that road and the speed has fairly recently been reduced from 60 to 50, there are now multiple 50 signs up - I ‘backseat drove’ because I didn’t want 'the car' to get a ticket, i.e. what probably would have been my husband to potentially get points on his license when he is already maxxed out - he would loose his license and also his ability to work.

@TheLovleyChebbyMcGee - yes I agree, I probably wasn’t coming across as a particularly nice person for noting out that I was uncomfortable as it was illegal and that she was driving over the speed limit, but I was also very concerned about breaking the law and the possible ramifications, ie being pulled over/fined/licenses lost etc.

I agree with the above.
However, did you say anyhting OP?
If you did good on you if you did not, why complain now.

I often find there are people that abide the law and other do not care too much about it.

My brother-in-law is a maverick and a big mouth. He and his wife were in our our car going on a 400 mile round trip in one day/funeral. The car displayed a message and an alert 'take a break' - He said he would drive. I said you are not insured possibly, he confirmed his fully comp cover him - I still said no as the car was only a few months old and I'd paid 70k-sih for it cash and said we will have a small break - he banged on about him wanting to drive it and i said NO.
If ther was an accident and it was his fault, that would have been my 70k down the hole. I can not stand weakness and then blame the other person/s.

To all - the OP is clear, SiL was not insured, so why debate if she was or not?

If the OP did not say anything at the time, she is to blame as well. If I was in the OP's place, I'd put my foot down as breaking the law is not within my remit.

This thread made me check my own policy. It covers nothing but named drivers driving my own car. Explicitly say driving other cars is not covered.

@Raul57 - straight off the bat I made it quite clear that I was unhappy with the arrangement when I realised she was driving asking ‘are you insured though to drive?’ to which they answered no - I expressed my concern then but was largely disregarded, then about 30 minutes later I again expressed that I was really not comfortable with the arrangement as I had has some time to think..
I think being pregnant my worry is that I don’t know atm if I am blowing things out of proportion, hence my question on here, my emotions are a bit mixed bag at the moment and they were both so chilled about it I was a bit confused.

personally I’ve never driven uninsured, my family doesn’t do this - perhaps their family is more relaxed about uninsured driving

@Autumnalblooms - Yes you’re totally right about little things building up and this being final straw. thank you for your advice; I am being monitored closely because of previous MC and on progresterone because of the bleeding, which is why I was alarmed as i restarted bleeding - will be seeing midwife on monday so hopefully can ask then - thank you.

@Raul57 - also you are right; next time (hopefully not) I will be more assertive about breaking the law and put my foot down from the start.

I think you should've clarified what her policy actually says. I'm fully comp on my car but can drive any other car third party, fire snd theft. At no extra cost.

If she’s able to drive the (potential) lack of insurance doesn’t make her less able to drive a car. She may even be a safer driver than your husband considering you said his license has maxed out on points.

@bluekostree they both said she was uninsured - perhaps she does have that in her policy but she certainly didn’t think she did last night. It’s worth us all checking that though as this is news to me that your policy may cover you for other cars. However I don’t think one should assume in the absence of knowing that and the conversation was that she was uninsured and they were fine with it.

I don't think there's much you could have done apart from refusing to be in the car- if they got pulled over then it's on them.

Not sure where the pregnancy issue comes in with the driving although if it's a build up with frustration towards your husband it's understandable. As most pp have said though, it's the norm to have third party to drive other cars on your own fully comp insurance and her ability to be a competent isn't reliant upon any of the above so there's no extra reason to be worried about safety than you would be if you were in her car.