Driving without insurance

Aretnap

To go back to the original question, see the magistrates sentencing guidelines page 130. A Band C fine means approximately one and a half times his weekly post-tax income, which would be reduced by a third if he pleads guilty. The maximum fine is £5000, but it won't be anything like that much in practice unless he's usually rich. There'll also be at least 6 points on his licence.

A second offence would get him much the same fine, and another 6 points. 12 or more points means a 6 month ban unless he can show that it would cause exceptional hardship. There's no precise definition of exceptional hardship, but in general hardship caused to other people weighs much more heavily than hardship caused to the offender. Simply losing your job tends not to be enough, unless you have people who are financially dependant on you. An obvious question would be, if he's not insured and not supposed to be driving anyway, how would banning him cause extra hardship? If he drives for his job on his employer's policy he may find that he has problems anyway. Insurers don't like no insurance convictions (they put you in the same bracket as chavs who drive untaxed, unroadworthy vehicles with little regard for any law) and his employer's fleet policy may not cover drivers who've been convicted of it.

Blackpool_Saver

I can't believe the penalty is so low for something so serious, Ithought it would warrant a custodial sentence, clearly I had no Idea

Iceweasel

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

I can't believe the penalty is so low for something so serious, Ithought it would warrant a custodial sentence, clearly I had no Idea

There's over 300,000 convictions for 'no insurance' every year :eek: - according to https://www.needasolictor.com

If we gave them all custodial sentences instead of a smack on the wrist we would have to build a good few more prisons.

forgotmyname

Make them sit in the car whilst it goes through the crusher?

Make them eat the car. The faster they eat it the faster they can go home?

Blackpool_Saver

Iceweasel wrote: »

There's over 300,000 convictions for 'no insurance' every year :eek: - according to https://www.needasolictor.com

If we gave them all custodial sentences instead of a smack on the wrist we would have to build a good few more prisons.

Yes of course, but it almost makes you afraid to go on the roads

Iceweasel

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

Yes of course, but it almost makes you afraid to go on the roads

It should not be a problem if you do find yourself involved in an accident and the other driver is uninsured.

The MIB (Motor Insurers' Bureau) will meet your claim against the uninsured driver.

Your own Insurance Company should handle it for you.

However - in order for the MIB to provide this fall-back cover - everyone's policy contributes to the MIB fund for this.

So we all have higher premiums due to these cheats.

But it shouldn't give you any sleepless nights.

Guest101

u must remember that whilst not a custodial sentence, should the offender be involved in an accident, it becomes alot worse for them with no ins, drivinf licence etc. ie careless driving becomes dangerous etc

smashingyour...

Guest101 wrote: »

u must remember that whilst not a custodial sentence, should the offender be involved in an accident, it becomes alot worse for them with no ins, drivinf licence etc. ie careless driving becomes dangerous etc

No it doesn't.

The standard of driving doesn't change.

However if someone were to die you can be charged with causing death even if you didn't cause the collision.

Guest101

smashingyour... wrote: »

No it doesn't.

The standard of driving doesn't change.

However if someone were to die you can be charged with causing death even if you didn't cause the collision.

ye ok, i was typing quickly. it was a bad example. but you got what i meant

vaio

Iceweasel wrote: »

It should not be a problem if you do find yourself involved in an accident and the other driver is uninsured.

The MIB (Motor Insurers' Bureau) will meet your claim against the uninsured driver.

Your own Insurance Company should handle it for you.

However - in order for the MIB to provide this fall-back cover - everyone's policy contributes to the MIB fund for this.

So we all have higher premiums due to these cheats.

But it shouldn't give you any sleepless nights.

be very careful if you involve your own insurer as, whilst you can claim all costs from the MIB, if your insurer fixes your car then they can't reclaim their costs from the MIB so you will end up with a fault claim on your record with the predictable effects on NCB and future premiums.

As for higher premiums, whilst it's certainly true that the existence of MIB and their method of funding does add to all premiums I'm pretty sure the credit hire/repair industry adds much more.

I think the figures I remember were MIB adds £30 and credit hire/repair adds £90.