Having your car impounded by the police or other authorities can be a bad experience overall, not only you are at great risk of losing your car, but unfortunately most of us don’t even know what we have to do when it is impounded.
In this confusing time, the ideal way to get this cleared up easily is to know what you require and what you have to do. To help make things as simple as possible.
Why does a car get impounded by the police?
There can be many reasons your car may have been impounded by the police or other authorities. These can include unpaid parking fees having no car tax or not declaring your car as off the road.
One of the most pervasive problems behind impounding is insurance. The police and other authorities often impound vehicles for driving without valid insurance. This gives you a code on your driving license. This also includes drivers who thought themselves to be legally covered but were not. A good many of the people we assist to find impounded car insurance have had their car impounded while they thought there covered previously.
In addition, the main reasons that the police can impound your vehicle are because of illegal activity they suspect you of. If the police thought that you have been involved in criminal activity or in any wrongdoing, they can quickly impound your car.
All drivers are needed by law to be insured to use the car they are driving and if you are noticed without the right insurance you could not only have your car impounded but you could face penalty points, a driving suspension, and unlimited fines.
Uninsured drivers cost drivers millions of pounds a year in payouts for accidents and to crack down on them, the authorities are putting more and more effort into finding and punishing car drivers without insurance. Targeted operations take place regularly and authorities also use automatic number place recognition connected to the MID.
How to release an impounded car?
If your car has been impounded, you can retrieve it by the police for not having valid insurance, you will need to get things together quickly or you could lose your car for good.
You will have just seven working days to retrieve your impounded car, and after 14 days if you fail to collect it, it will be destroyed or auctioned. Not only do you have to act quickly to release your car but you will also have to pay impound fees plus daily storage charges.
To retrieve your impounded car, you first need proper car insurance. If you don’t have valid car insurance or like many drivers find that an annual insurance company will not offer insurance for impounded cars.
You will require temporary impounded car insurance which you can obtain from Release my vehicle.
The certificate of insurance that you get with temporary impounded car insurance is not the only thing you will be required to get your impounded car released though. You will also be required to prove that you are the registered owner. Along with these documents, you will be required a complete driving license including a valid MOT certificate or proof of pre-hired MOT appointment.
You may also find you will require other documents when you pick up your car but these will be in a notice letter that is sent when the car is ready for collection.
1-day impounded car insurance
You might well be forgiven for thinking that because it only takes 1 day to release your car you will only require a 1-day insurance policy. You will not be able to release your car if you only have a 1-day insurance policy as not only do most 1-day insurance policies forbid it being used on the impounded car but police also need you to have at least 30 days of insurance.
You can get an insurance policy that lasts longer than this but you will find it costly. For most drivers, the ideal option is a 30-day short-term impounded car insurance policy while you arrange a new annual policy for when your car is retrieved.
Who needs impounded car insurance?
Obtaining short-term impounded car insurance relies on a number of factors including your age, driving history, vehicle model, and a few others. However, the drivers should meet the following criteria:
- Be the registered keeper of the car
- Held driving license for a minimum of 3 years
- Be aged over 21 years or more
- Living in the UK for a minimum of 5 years
- Had only 1 fault claim in the previous 3 years
We are confident that we can provide cover to a large range of drivers but we can’t assure all drivers will be able to get an insurance quote.
Can you use standard insurance to retrieve an impounded car?
Most drivers complain that it does not seem appropriate to them that they can’t use their regular car insurance. It is mainly the case if the car was impounded for reasons other than the driver having uninsured. People are often amazed to find that the insurance they have to depend on in the past is apparently no longer valid.
The main reason that standard car insurance does not work for cars in the police pound is mainly unknown to many people. It is because the reasons are generally hidden within the policy documentation, or the insurance policy terms and conditions. Most people don’t read their insurance policy documents.
Many insurance policies do state that they do not cover cars that have been impounded. As an insurance policy is a deal, you have agreed that your car is not in the police pound nor will it be. If your car is later impounded, you have broken the deal you made. It means that they are justified in canceling your insurance policy as you were not abiding by the law.
You can always contact us to retrieve your impounded car from the police pound as we can arrange an impound insurance quote for you in a few minutes.
