Statistics show that 1 in 20 people drive with no insurance, which costs law-abiding motorists an extra £30 on their annual bill, not to mention the 23,000 people injured by them each year.
While it is already illegal to drive on the roads with no insurance, new regulations in the pipeline will now make it an offence to simply own an uninsured vehicle without a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification).
New legislation aimed to tackle this issue, is expected to be in place by June this year. Soon, drivers with no insurance run the risk of having their car clamped in their own driveways, seized and possibly even destroyed, all in a bid to put a stop to this mounting problem. And it’s not just serial offenders who need to watch out, honest motorists who innocently forget to renew their insurance will be dealt with in the same way.
It is thought that the new regulation will see the DVLA and Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) working together to target people with no insurance. Drivers breaking the law will receive a letter to warn they will be fined if they do not arrange insurance for the vehicle. Anyone choosing to ignore the letter will be fined £100 initially. If the warnings continue to be ignored the uninsured vehicles can be seized and destroyed. Motorists can only claim their vehicles back once the insurance has been arranged.
Experts in the motoring industry are skeptical about whether the new legislation will work, calling it a mere ‘slap on the wrist’. If a motorist chooses to pay the fine early it will be halved to £50… some are questioning if this is harsh enough to be a deterrent. The other major flaw in the system is they will only be able to focus on drivers who have registered their cars with the DVLA in the first place.
So with the new legislation impending, do we think drivers will be making sure they have all their insurance requirements in order? Unlikely, given a recent survey by the AA has shown that nearly two thirds of us don’t even know it is coming!
Think Insurance, the specialist motor trade insurance provider, will watch this with interest and will be keen to see the impact, if any, this new law has in June.