Yippee

If an owner allows a person who he knows to be incompetent (no license or drunk) to drive his car and he/she causes a collision the owner can be held responsible for all amages to all cars and people involved in the collision. I've had the case. In this case the owner gave his keys to a drunken friend to drive and he failed to stop at a stop sign, causing permanent injuries to my clients. I sued the drunk and the owner and we settled it. Of course the drunk had no insurance. The owner's insurance company had to pay for everything. My research showed that the same result would occur if the driver was not drunk but was unlicensed and the owner knew he was unlicensed. Knowledge that the driver was drunk or unlicensed was required at that time (about 15 years ago)to tag the owner.

Yippee

The word "amages" on my previous post was supposed to be "damages" but apparently my typing and the spellchecker missed it.

RT

don't ask don't tell

WestSideBilly

Due diligence will help your cause. You don't need to call the DoL, but at least seeing that they have a "valid" license should be sufficient. I don't know about WA, but I was under the impression that if your license gets suspended, the arresting officer/DoL/courts confiscate the physical license.

mikegarrison

Never having had my license suspended, I have no idea what the procedure is.

Maybe Ray can tell us!

bigdoc211

Balance_Point

They punch it but you retain the plasitc. You need to get a temporary ID. Once punched you CAN'T get into a bar or buy alcohol with it (or at least your not supposed to).

jerrypeterson

You can request that test drivers bring a "Driver's Abstract" from the DMV. For five doll-hairs they can have various views of their driving record printed out. As this will surely include a current date, you can review with a greater degree of certainty whether they have a valid license. Gives you clear picture of their driving history and status of his license for the time span covered by the report. It would clearly be a better indicator than the piece of plastic that gets replaced every four years.

Sorry, I cannot address the liability clause of your insurance policy. I'd call your insurance agent for clarification. Specifically the scenario where the test driver makes a false statement to you concerning the valididty of his license.

jerrypeterson

True for a traffic citation involving a stop. However a license could have been suspended in abesentia. As is the common procedure for FTA (Failure to Appear) but I'm sure there are other examples. The DMV can send you a letter saying saying "no soup for you" for any number of reasons.

mikegarrison

That was the scenario I was thinking of, actually. They can't confiscate (or punch) your piece of plastic if they don't know where you are.