Sir,
Since the opening of the checkpoints, many people, including tourists, have crossed over to see sights that were not available to them in the past.
Among the many cars crossing each day is a growing number of hire cars with the familiar red number plate and ‘Z’ registration.
Every car must carry insurance purchased at the crossing at a vastly inflated short term rate. The small print at the bottom of the cover note states that cover is third party only. Similarly, the small print on the form provided by the car’s hirer in the south states that the collision damage waiver provided does not extend to the north of the island.
Who reads the small print? Clearly hundreds of people do not, or they would not take such a huge risk. Do the hire companies point out the gap in the insurance cover? Clearly not – I can find no-one of my acquaintance who can confirm that they were warned.
So, hundreds of people run the risk that the car they are driving is not insured once they cross and that they will be fully liable for any damage caused by their own driving errors.
In a worst case scenario this could mean paying to the hire company as much as £10,000 to compensate them for the total loss of their car. The hirer would also be forced, at his own expense, to have the wreck returned to the south.
In a very recent case, a particularly aggressive, car hire firm tried to extract £6,700 from an elderly man’s credit card. This was done less than 24 hours after an accident in the north, without any regard to the injuries sustained by driver and passenger, without seeing the vehicle or assessing the damage and in the knowledge that the elderly man was not the driver and was not involved in or responsible for the accident!
There are four ways round this problem:
1) As insurance companies such as Atlantic Insurance Co and Gan Direct will now insure private motorists fully comprehensive for travel in the north, such cover should be included in all hire contracts by the insurers concerned. OR
2) Cover for the north could be sold as an optional extra and be promoted as such OR
3) All car hire facilities should be forced to place a large notice in a prominent position at their place of business to the effect that no cover exists for travel north of the green line AND
4) The CTO should place large notices at all crossing points warning the drivers of hire cars that they are uninsured and face grave financial risk if they continue with their journey.
The hire of a car may be governed by the law of contract but the business of tourism should be governed by the law of common sense.
P D Hill, Pyla
