MSE News: Now you must have car insurance

jamesallen

uk_messer wrote: »

It will get rid of more uninsured drivers off the road. Currently their car can only be seized whilst they're seen driving it.

It should also get rid of the dodgy private car sellers who use the high roads as a forecourt.

RE your first point - how?

• If I currently drive w/o tax/MOT/insurance, and take my chances, I will continue to do so.
• If I currently drive with tax, but no insurance, I will simply SORN my car and stop paying tax, and continue as normal. The only difference is that, when parked, a traffic warden is marginally more likely to spot my photocopied tax disk. ANPR is no more likely to catch me, because it previously would have caught me for no insurance anyway.
• If I currently drive a car insured for someone else, but not me, I will continue to do so, and there will be no change.

RE your second point - surely they are already doing something illegal by not insuring them. Why would they be bothered about doing something else illegal (i.e. a false SORN)?

This will have zero effect on the uninsured. It's a typical example of a poorly thought-out policy drafted on the back of an envelope, which will achieve nothing but an increase in paperwork, cost, and inconvenience for ordinary citizens. I think it's a pity that people swallow the government's BS about it actually making a difference - a modicum of logic demonstrates that it won't.

What we really need are meaningful penalties for DRIVING uninsured - if you get stopped, your licence should be revoked, you should have your car crushed, and should be fined a very substantial amount (at least the cost of a TPFT insurance premium).

uk_messer

Not at all. Dodgy Drivers now buy cars that have road tax on them already and then drive them around uninsured. As long as they don't get caught driving them they can park them anywhere they like without concern. With this law, that won't be the case.

Your second point about dodgy car dealers I can't make head or tail of. They can park their cars up for sale without insurance currently as long as they have tax and cannot get done for it. That's the point. This law will mean they can't do that anymore.

jamesallen

uk_messer wrote: »

Not at all. Dodgy Drivers now buy cars that have road tax on them already and then drive them around uninsured. As long as they don't get caught driving them they can park them anywhere they like without concern. With this law, that won't be the case.

No they can't. It is already illegal to park an uninsured car on 'the public highway', and I believe cars can be taken away/drivers fined if a car is parked on the road and is uninsured. Arguably this new legislation will cause greater enforcement, because of letters and so on, but owners can still just SORN it and say it's not on the road. If the police give it the same level of attention they currently give stationary, uninsured cars, why would this change behaviour?

uk_messer wrote: »

Your second point about dodgy car dealers I can't make head or tail of. They can park their cars up for sale without insurance currently as long as they have tax and cannot get done for it. That's the point. This law will mean they can't do that anymore.

Firstly, as I said above, not on a public road they can't. Secondly, the vast vast majority of garages, all but the absolute worst, will have some kind of insurance which covers all cars in their possession, third party at least.

Oh, and you ignored my general point about those who already operate outside the system, and those who drive a car insured for someone else but not for them.

If you want the legislation for uninsured cars being parked up, apparently it was established through case law in "Plumbien v Vines".

miller

Something I discovered - if you buy a vehicle already on a SORN when the V5 gets changed that existing SORN is effectively voided and you (as the new keeper) have to declare SORN again (or tax immediately).

i.e. the previous keepers declaration is no longer valid.

jimmysayshey

Why can't they just fit ANPR camera's onto every speed camera? That way everytime you drive past a speed camera it runs through the database to see if you have valid insurance etc.

This is just stupid, money grabbing theives