government planning to make an offence in owning a vehicle uninsured

iceburn · 27 January 2009 at 2:27AM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/4297146/Uninsured-drivers-face-having-cars-seized-in-new-clampdown.html
http://motortorque.askaprice.com/news/auto-0901/government-to-crack-down-on-uninsured-drivers.asp
http://www.whitehallpages.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=166276
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_174086
http://forum.landrovernet.com/printthread.php?t=145938
http://www.myfinances.co.uk/news/insurance/car-insurance/crackdown-on-uninsured-drivers-welcomed-$1262179.htm

in summary what they are planning on doing is if you own a vehicle,, that soon unless you declare it scrapped / SORN you will have to have it insured at all times.. At the moment you can have it tax, and as long as you do not drive it on public road you will be fine. As soon as it goes on public road, you will need to have it insured, for example using a temporary cover. I myself think this idea is alright but need one change. That is with the road tax system. Cause as it say there are some ppl who will use x on weekends, summertime, easter, etc.. At the moment they can have it tax all year, and just take out insurance on those particular days. But on this new system they either have it insured for all year which they wont use and tax all year, or declare it SORN, (I think you lose the logbook dont you for a while as well) wait until the logbook arrive, than buy new tax, new insurance, only to cash in tax few days later but lose alot in fees, min month tax etc...

So feel tax should be refunded than pro-rata.

PasturesNew · 27 January 2009 at 2:41AM

If anybody has a car they only use 4x a year, they're better off hiring one each time.

However, it would be reasonable that if your insurance ran out on 20th of the month and you couldn't afford the insurance until you got paid 11 days later, you might stick it in the garage under normal circumstances and catch the bus. Or, if you don't use it THAT often, or are ill/working away, it could equally be legitimately off the road for a very short time.

iceburn · 27 January 2009 at 3:05AM

I can think of many reasons why they might use it 4 times a year but not better off hiring. One is like for my dad, he got a motorhome, and been customised cause he is disabled. At the moment it is off the road, no tax, and actually would be alright on this change of law since got full insurance. (Cheaper than downgrading due to car insurance as well.) But before he brought it, did look at just "renting" and it was just too expensive / near impossible to find a place that had one customised...

Other one is people who like work in UK for one month and than go overseas for 6 weeks. I think people who work on the North Sea have that pattern?

JoolzS · 27 January 2009 at 3:35AM

I can understand the point of this. If someone buys a car that has, say, one month's MOT on it, but no tax, they can insure it, get a year's tax, then cancel the insurance and drive it around without any obvious outside sign that it's uninsured. The tax disc is the only thing that is visible on a car to show that it is probably legally on the road.

It's really not that difficult to fill out the SORN part of the log book (or whatever it is called these days). My DH has a motorbike that has been SORNed for about five years now (it's still mainly in boxes!) - he just fills in whatever is necessary every time he receives a form.

Julie

iceburn · 27 January 2009 at 9:39AM

But Joolzs you missing something... As was mention in the other discussion. The people who drive around with no MOT and insurance will still drive without them, this law will not change it. All they will do is buy a car, and give the wrong details on the log book. And also about the tax disc being the only thing visible on a car to show that is legally on the road is also wrong. Now they have NPRC Cameras (I might have it spelt wrong) which read the cars number plate, and check it with the the insurance database to see if the car is insured.

Cause going by what you said they could also "SORN" the car but keep the car tax. Yes not valid but if it is just to show on the outside it is covered, it will do. Dont get me wrong Joolzs I think it is a good idea "BUT" cause it is on consulation at the moment I think they should use it at the same time to change car tax as well. So at least if you declare the car off the road by SORN, a) you can tax it without the log book being replaced if need arise (maybe bring the original SORN receipt that would get printed out) and get a CAR tax pro-rata refund. Ie if you took out a car tax for say £365 and have it for 10 days. Than cash it in, you will get £355 back. Or maybe say £350 including admin. Not what happen at the moment where you lose the whole month plus admin on the 6 month tax disc at least.

roddydogs · 27 January 2009 at 9:57AM

As usual, this will only affect "Honest" drivers who have registered their vehicle and can be traced, it wont affect the Thousands of Cowboys who buy an old banger and dont bother to Tax/insure/MOT........or even get a licence.
"you know you stand to lose your licence"? dosent bother me, i aint got one...........Very old joke.

emedmeads1 · 5 February 2009 at 7:06PM

but look at this...
http://www.noclaimsdiscount.co.uk/news/art_display.php?show=200811301

government planning to make an offence in owning a vehicle uninsured

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free