Disputing a ticket for no insurance
 

Ok a friend of mine recently got a ticket after being pulled over and the cop was just looking for any excuse to give one..The car was a rental and the authorized owner had been drinking so his buddy drove instead. Can this be disputed with a valid point or not?

Probably not since your buddy was not insured as a driver on the vehicle. The driver should not have started drinking if he was the only insured operator of the rental car.

They should be lucky that it wasn't towed.

you friend knew he was the only one who was supposed to drive the car, yet he still went and got hammered, and asked your buddy to drive?

i dont think you any valid point in disputing it, better option was to take a taxi home, thats probably what the judge would say.

I would think that would be a civil case between the rental company and the renter if something happened (crash). But if the car is insured (plated), and the driver is licensed. I can't see the cops being able to do anything. maybe some form of unautherized use / stolen charges etc...

who can drive it would be the rentals policy, not the law.

But it is the law to have insurance that will cover the driver. And since the insurance does not (in this case) then the police have all the right to pull over, ticket and even tow the car.

The fact that the renter was not specified on the contract as an additional driver will invalidate the liability insurance. I have stopped numerous rentals with non-authorized drivers behind the wheel. I always checked the rental policy and immediately called the owner..the rental company. Without exception their instructions were to tow the vehicle on the spot, irregardless of what happens to the occupants. I was told by every company that their liability insurance would not cover them in the case of a claim...and they would get stuck with the financial penaltiy in case of a crash. One time it was two vans crammed full of people going to a funeral...the renter had been told by the rental company that only he was permitted to drive. Both vehicles were towed and the 20 people stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Another time it involved a rented 5 ton full of furniture. It was unloaded at roadside. This particular company got stuck for $100,000 for a brand new 5 tonner with less than 2000 kms on it when a non-designated driver wrote it off on the 2nd day on the road. They were not happy when their own insurance would not cover them because of this. I have never written a no insurance ticket but I always called the rental company and they always towed on the spot.

In a slightly related matter:
So what if I let my friend drive my car, would my ICBC insurance cover him incase something happened?
In this case, I am the owner and principle operator of the car, and my friend has my permission to drive it.

For personal insurance, as long as you drive the vehicle over 50% (or 55%, can't remember) of the time you are fine. I don't know if you can have a clause added to your insurance where only you can drive the car, but as long as you don't have something like that, then it's fine to let someone else drive your car as long as you are still the principle driver.

Rental insurance is different than personal insurance. typical rental contracts specify who is allowed to drive, and additional drivers have to be named specifically and usually have an additional cost added to the rental fee.

With your car, any licensed driver should be okay to drive it, as long as the "principle operator" drives it over 50% of the time.

alright, thanks :)

The only catch there to be aware of..if you have private optional insurance like CDI...they specify that nobody BUT the listed parties may operate the vehicle, as they base the rates they charge on the driving history of the particular operator.

^Good point... you won't get a ticket that way (I don't think?), but you certainly won't be covered if someone not named gets in an accident.

Was there an insurance policy in effect for the vehicle on that day? If there was, that should be sufficient to have the charge dismissed. You will need a letter from the insurance company or a photocopy of the ICBC insurance document to produce.

well yeah there was an insurance policy on the day of the ticket...just the driver on the insurance policy happened to be a passenger at the time...

Odd, we insure vehicles, not drivers, don't we? Is there something in the policy that says the vehicle is uninsured if the named person is not driving?

That is the impression I have received from all my dealings with the rental companies but a read of the fine print of the contract should answer that question. They told me that an unlisted driver invalidated the coverage and that is why they 100% wanted the cars yanked immediately at roadside. I would be hesitant in subpoenaing the rental company as a defence witness :(

Any time I've rented a vehicle, or work has rented one on my behalf, it's been the same - the driver has to be named, and only that person is allowed to drive it. It may not invalidate the INSURANCE for someone else to drive it, but it would most certainly be in breach of the rental contract.

I can't believe that I get to use this on skidmark:

:gotsearch:

Went to icbc.com, plugged in "rental insurance", and found this:

wow you are really a dumb a**!!! And proud to be one too!!!

You have to be half retarded to still be arguing about this. I gave you a simple and straight forward response.

look in the mirror

he's simply responding to skidmark's question...