Half of People Caught Driving Without Insurance Just Made an Honest Mistake: 4 Insurance Pitfalls to Avoid
- A car is taken off the road every four minutes for driving without insurance
- Motorists face fines, lawsuits and having their cars run over for basic mistakes
Half of those caught driving without insurance made a real mistake and did not seek to break the law, according to new figures.
The Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB), which helps police identify uninsured vehicles, said “entirely avoidable human error” has led to thousands of people driving without coverage every day.
Over the past three months, the MIB found that 30% of uninsured drivers had no coverage because their policies had been cancelled, often due to missed payments.
Best intentions: Only half of uninsured drivers decided to break the law, new figures show
Another 10% were uninsured because their policy had expired, and 9% had invalid insurance because they violated the wording of their insurance contract by accident.
Two out of three of these drivers then saw their vehicle seized by the police for lack of insurance.
Last year, 123,429 uninsured vehicles were seized – one every four minutes.
Here are some of the most common mistakes that lead to uninsured driving
Policy expiration: If a driver forgets when the policy ends or mistakenly assumes that it will automatically renew, it may expire.
Cancellation of the policy: Insurers can cancel coverage if consumers miss payments. Often this is because a payment method has not been updated.
A policy can also be canceled if a driver does not respond to requests from his insurer.
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Driving someone else’s car: Many drivers make the mistake of assuming comprehensive coverage allows them to drive someone else’s car, but that’s often not the case.
It is important to verify that the policy includes a Driving Other Vehicles (DOV) extension.
Many motorists also incorrectly assume that they are a named driver on another person’s policy.
Use of the vehicle for bad purposes: When you buy car insurance, you need to select what you want to use the car for – for example, business or social, home and leisure.
Buying one policy and then using your car for another means driving without insurance.
MIB law enforcement officer Paul Farley said: ‘Unfortunately every day we find cases where someone has been stopped by the police for driving without insurance, and it appears they were unwittingly breaking the law. the law due to human error.
‘Not only can this be a negative experience for the driver, but it also impacts police resources as they would prefer drivers to be error-free and insured, so they can focus on the motorists who intentionally drive without insurance and pose the greatest risk to road safety.’
If anyone wants to see if their vehicle shows up as insured on the MID, they can check on their website for free.
