Many people wonder if it is possible to lend their car to everyone. The law provides for some specific cases regarding this situation. In order for the move to be permitted by law, it is necessary to comply and take some actions. What happens if the car is involved in an accident? Who pays any fines? Here’s everything you need to know about this thorny situation.
Everyone will have happened in their life to drive a car that is not their own or to lend it for a very short time to a friend, an acquaintance or anyone else. A seemingly normal move and without consequences. In some cases, however, it could turn out to be a huge mistake. What are we referring to? Here’s what you need to know about this specific topic.
We must say how lending your car to anyone is not a move prohibited by the Highway Code. However, the duration of the loan is very important. If you lend your car to a friend or acquaintance, you don’t have to tell anyone anything within the 30 days of the loan.
If, on the other hand, the duration of the loan is extended beyond 30 days, then it becomes mandatory to notify the PRA. We will therefore proceed to update the registration document of the vehicle.
But what if the non-owner of the car were to be involved in a road accident? What if he breaks some rules? Here’s everything you need to know about the consequences and who should pay any penalties.
The car loan: here’s everything you need to know in order not to get involved in trouble
The only people who are exempt from reporting to the PRA are people who live with the car owner. Therefore, husband, wife and children under the same roof will be able to drive the same car without having to communicate anything to anyone. Things can change, however, if your child is no longer part of the same household as you.
If the person driving were to be involved in any problem on the road – accident, fine or other – is the owner of the car still responsible for everything? Any infringement committed always refers to the vehicle’s license plate. Therefore, any fine always goes to the owner. When making the loan, therefore, it is important to trust the person and always agree on everything. The owner will be able to choose whether to take on the fine or to make the other person pay it.
This can happen for traffic fines. But what happens in the event of a road accident? In this case – especially if the accident should have caused various problems to other vehicles or people – the responsibility lies with whoever is behind the wheel at that moment.
To avoid, however, that the fault may fall on the owner, it is important to communicate all the data of the person behind the wheel of his car involved in the accident to the competent authorities. This move must be made within 60 days.
In this way, if a friend were to seriously damage the wheel of your car, the responsibility – in the most serious cases even criminal – is all his.
The risk is that of incurring fines that can even reach several thousand euros, depending on the case and the seriousness of the infringements committed by the user while driving a vehicle that is not his own.
From an insurance point of view, the car will have to be covered by normal RCA policy. In most cases, all people driving will be covered by the policy. However, it becomes it is always better to check that the stipulated contract does not provide for any limitation on a third party driving the vehicle
