Motoring Insurance

There are many crimes relating to cars and drivers, but one of the most fundamental is not to have your car insured.

There are a growing number of drivers who are avoiding buying car insurance, perhaps not even realising that to drive without it is a criminal offence.

These drivers are a liability to all other road users, and indeed, themselves, pushing the burden of the cost of premiums onto law-abiding motorists.

Non insurance situations can happen by ignorance or mistakes, or by those who can’t or won’t pay the premium. The net result is the same, a crime is committed and subsequent fines and penalty points will follow.

Having your car off the road and not using it doesn’t mean you needn’t insure it, you do, unless you obtain a SORN (statutory off road notification) from the DVLA.

The Police, working with the DVLA are developing more and more sophisticated means of detecting uninsured vehicles and drivers, in co-ordination with the MID (motor insurance database, the central record of all insured vehicles in the UK).

The Police are able to spot check vehicles using APNR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras, which can instantly scan the MID for the relevant information.

The minimum motoring insurance cover you must have is third party insurance. In the event of an accident this means that you’re covered if you have caused damage or injury to another person, vehicle or property.

If you don’t meet this minimum legal requirement you will be prosecuted for driving with no insurance and will need an experienced motoring solicitor, with expert no insurance law knowledge to help you to defend your licence.

It doesn’t cover any other costs like repairing damage to your vehicle, but liabilities to others are covered.

To deliberately drive without insurance should be recognised as about as acceptable as drinking and driving, and those that do, be punished in a similar way, as they are jeopardising themselves and all other road users.