Shortage of car rentals

I wonder if anyone can advise on this - perhaps Roy from Inspectahomes who seems to be very well versed on the law in Spain and is very helpful on this forum.  

I have some neighbours who use their property here only over the winter and who are considering renting a car from a neighbour from UK who is only here from time to time and who has purchased a car here. The couple who own the car say that it is insured for anyone to drive if they are over 25 years old and that this is an arrangement which will work well for both parties. This seems like a good idea if the people involved were related or only lending the car at no charge but they are charging a weekly rate which is of course considerably less than that from car rental companies but this would in my opinion constitute a rental agreement nonetheless.

I have had a lot of experience in litigation at home and cannot comprehend that the car would actually be insured to cover the people paying to rent it, in the event of an accident but perhaps this is wrong. Any help would be much appreciated as my neighbours will not be happy to take the car until they are sure that everything is in order. They are due to pick it up on Wednesday next so any help would be much appreciated as I have a strong gut feeling that this is illegal for a number of reasons but am not 100% clear on the law in Spain.

Thankyou

Lorraine

Hi

Don't know if this helps but I was told that if you advertise your rental property "with free use of car" which is insured for any driver over 25 then this is O.K.    Don't really know though.  It was just something we were told.

My understanding is that in Spain you insure the car not the driver.

However this is only what I have been told

Correct Lanric - you insure the car and all the seats in the car.

As you know LP I have already PM´s you with the response as this seems to be a growing trend however the law is simple, that if you are receiving any direct payment for the use of the car then you require special hire and reward type insurance and, in the case of an accident or legal problem, the driver would not be insured and both the owner and the driver would be liable to prosecution

Both the renter and the owner are leaving themselves wide open as there are lots of roadside checks and if stopped and the driver does not have the necessary documents with them the car can be taken away and the driver will be prosecuted if anything is wrong with the car perhaps no MOT, or bad tyres

With more than 20 speed cameras now in this area the owners are leaving themselves wide open because without an agreement and the right insurance they will get the fines and points, unlike a rental compant that covers this in an agreement and the driver still gets the fines

I personally would not doing this knowing the traffic laws and that it is normal to call the Police for most road traffic accidents

It is correct that in Spain you insure the car not the driver so it can then be driven by anybody over 25 fully insured, ideal for frineds and family but the isue is with a car attached to the property how do you cover any motoring offences 

Thankyou Roy very helpful yet again. My friends are now booking with a rental company as it is the only sensible way to go. I have seen a lot of cars stopped when we were down in Murcia recently and it would hardly be worth what they would save by doing it if they had an accident and were not covered.

Fair warning to anyone thinking about it as well as the people renting out these cars privately are putting themselves and their renters at risk for a few euros. 

Lorraine