AXA INSURANCE UK LTD V EUI LTD (T/A ELEPHANT INSURANCE)

[2020] EWHC 1207 (QB), Queen’s Bench Division, Mrs Justice Foster, 14 May 2020

Insurance (motor) – Contribution between insurers – Driver involved in accident returning from work – Meaning of “social, domestic and pleasure” purposes – Meaning of “private motor car”

On 29 May 2016 a Vauxhall Astra driven by X collided with a Ford Ka driven by Y, who sustained serious injuries in the accident. The Astra was a courtesy car owned by DP Garage and loaned to X while his own vehicle, a Ford Focus was being repaired. On the night before the accident X had been working as a security guard at a hotel in Birmingham. It was not his usual place of work, and he was doing his boss a favour by working there. The accident occurred on the morning after his night shift while X was driving back to his home in Wolverhampton, but he was intending to divert to pick up a friend at a local coach station so that he could give him a lift back to Wolverhampton. The Vauxhall Astra was insured by AXA for DP Garage, and covered any claim against X by Y. X’s own policy from EUI covered him driving any other vehicle if it was “a privately-owned motor car manufactured to carry up to eight passengers, which is designed solely for private use and has not been constructed or adapted to carry goods”, and if he was driving “for social, domestic and pleasure purposes only”. AXA claimed that it was entitled to a contribution from EUI for any damages payable to Y.