Is your teenager driving your car? Watch out

Who pays for the loss if your underage teenager driving your car meets with an accident: you or your motor insurer? Find out.

My car met with a minor accident while being driven by my son who only has a learning license? Will the insurance company pay for the repairing charges?

This rather interesting query came to us on our portal www.apnapaisa.com. This set us thinking on queries that the consumer had not even asked.

If in this case a loss is caused to a third party due to the car accident, will it be borne by the insurer or will it have to be paid by the insured himself?

We spoke to a few insurance companies but most companies said since the driver was not holding a valid driving license they would not pay for damage to the car itself.

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The motor accident tribunal could rule on the compensation payable to a third party and also decide who will bear the loss -- whether the owner or the common fund set up for this purpose.

Does that mean that a car in which someone is learning to drive should never meet an accident? And in case the car does meet with an accident, then should the entire damage be borne by the owner of the car and not the insurance company?

Looked quite intriguing to us. So we looked up the Motor Vehicles Act and spoke to some lawyers active in this field.

Here are our findings:

First if the driver did not have a license at all than in that case the owner was fully responsible for any damages caused to the car or to a third party. That's not all.

The driver is in a lot of trouble since as per the MV Act, driving a motor vehicle without a valid license is a criminal offence.

The situation is a little different if the driver at least holds a valid learner's license.

According to the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, a person with a learner's license can drive the car only accompanied by an instructor who has an effective driving license. Along with this the instructor should be sitting in such a position that s/he has complete control over the vehicle and s/he can stop the vehicle anytime.

The car also needs to have 'L' mark on the front and the rear of the car in RED over a WHITE background. Along with that the 'L' mark should have a certain height and thickness. All the above rules are supposed to be followed when a learning license holder is driving a vehicle.

But all the points above clearly specify that if the driver is holding a learner's license and not following any of the other conditions specified above then s/he would be treated as driving without a valid license.

Typically it is very difficult for a person sitting next to the driver to be in a position where s/he has complete control over the vehicle and can stop the vehicle at any time. This is only possible if the person holding the learner's license is taking classes under a motor training institute.

They have special cars designed where the instructor has got full control of the car as they have another set of brakes and clutches with the instructor.

Using this set of brakes and clutches they can stop the car anytime they want. So clearly if your teenager is driving a normal car even with a valid learner's license and with the L marked as specified s/he still cannot fulfill all the conditions required to validly drive a normal car.

This is the strict interpretation of the MV Act.

So watch out when your underage kids want to learn driving.

It is always advisable to send them to a driving school and not try to train them in your own car till the time they don't have a valid driving license.

Remember not only will your insurance company not pay for any accident caused while s/he is driving but it is also possible that s/he can be prosecuted for driving without a valid license.