Company car question: son takes car without permission, has crash, what next?

My son took my company car without my permission to impress his girlfriend and got hit up the rear by some other idiot. Luckily nobody was injured but I now find to my horror that he wasn’t insured and my boss is very angry as this invalidated the legal expenses insurance as well. Can my son still claim against the other driver and how much will this all cost me? TS Newcastle on Tyne

The roadside lawyer writes:

FIRSTLY, THE fact that your son was not insured in no way affects the liability of the driver responsible to pay for the damage but you almost certainly need legal advice which will need to be paid for if you don't have cover through your employers. Check your credit card agreements, motor insurance on any other car and household policies to see if legal expenses cover might be available to you personally. Otherwise you will need to instruct a solicitor and may have to pay for their services. Our sister site Lawcover does have a policy - Lawcover Hindsight - which may help. For a one-off payment of £75 you get legal expenses cover for the accident which has already happened as well as full before-the-event accident cover for the twelve months to come. Terms and conditions apply - largely based on our assessment of the chances of the claim's success - but we will not charge you for an appraisal and you will not risk any money if in our view the claim is likely to fail. Contact Lawcover on 0800 066 99 07 for more information.

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