One In Three Motorists Don’t Have Car Insurance

With one in three motorists driving without car insurance in some areas, honest motorists are having to pay an extra £30 on their premiums to cover their bills for damage and injury.

According to figures from the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), responsible for compensating innocent motorists who have been involved in accidents with uninsured drivers, Bordesley in Birmingham is the worst area for uninsured drivers. Almost a third of drivers in this area don’t bother to buy car insurance.

Other hotspot areas include parts of Essex, Manchester and West Yorkshire.

Ashton West, Chief Executive at MIB said, “We cannot stand by and let uninsured driving continue, otherwise the honest motorist will keep paying the bills for the injury and damage caused to people and property.”

Whilst there is good progress being made in reducing the number of vehicles being driven without insurance, clearly there is a lot more to be done.

Until June this year, uninsured drivers had to be caught at the wheel to be prosecuted. Since then stricter rules have been introduced which mean that if you’re without car insurance, you can be fined or lose your car – even when you’re not using it.

All registered keepers of cars, vans, motorbikes, motorhomes and trucks without insurance should have now received letters warning them to either take out insurance or to officially declare the vehicle off the road.  These new measures are allowing the police to be more efficient and focus their efforts on tackling the hard core of offenders and at the same time including sufficient safeguards to protect law-abiding motorists.

MoneyHighStreet comments: “With over 30% of uninsured drivers under the age of 30, some will no doubt be flouting the laws due to the high premiums they face. Apart from breaking the law, this is unacceptable as the penalties both to them and the impact on others is too high.

“It’s good to see that some insurers are taking steps to help young drivers get a lower premium, including Co-op insurance with their Young Drivers Insurance policy for example. With this if you drive safely you qualify for Safer Driving Discounts to help reduce your premium.

“You can save money on your insurance by shopping around to get the best deal. Importantly though also make sure you only buy the cover you need.

“For example, if you don’t need a courtesy car if your car is of the road, why pay extra to have one included? Equally think about such as the excess you are prepared to pay and the mileage you need included each year. Also do you need comprehensive cover or will the legal minimum of third party, fire and theft suffice?

“You must make sure you are correctly insured, if you are not you could be driving illegally. You can use the car insurance database at no cost, the Motor Insurance Database (MID) to check that the details of your cover have been recorded correctly.