Unless you've registered your vehicle as off the road (Statutory Off Road Notification/SORN) or it's in the process of being transferred to a new keeper by DVLA, it must be insured.
- The offence of being the 'keeper of an uninsured vehicle' was introduced in the Road Safety Act (2006)
- Continuous Insurance Enforcement came into force in 2011.
- There are still around a million uninsured drivers on our roads costing you and every other honest driver an average £30 a year on your insurance.
- That £30 goes to fund payments to victims of uninsured drivers made by the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB).
- More than 2 million warning letters have been sent to drivers whose car was neither insured or SORN'd.
- There are around 6,000 prosecutions for keeping an uninsured vehicle every month.
Enforcement
The Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) regularly compares the driver and vehicle records held by the DVLA and the records held on the Motor Insurance Database (MID).
Insurance advisory letter
If you're suspected of being the registered keeper of a vehicle without insurance or SORN you'll first get an official reminder – an 'Insurance Advisory Letter'.
If you ignore the letter and take no further action then you can expect:
- A £100 fixed penalty (reduced to £50 if paid within 21 days).
- A fine of up to £1000 if the case goes to court.
- The vehicle being clamped, seized or destroyed.
How long before you get a letter?
It's important not to let your insurance cover lapse at renewal time as an insurance advisory letter (AIL) can be issued as soon as the MIB identifies a taxed vehicle without insurance.
Whenever you insure a vehicle or renew cover it's a good idea to check that the insurer has actually sent a record of your cover to the motor insurance database (MID). You can do this by entering the vehicle registration on askmid.com.
Exemptions
Some vehicles are exempt from continuous insurance enforcement:
- A vehicle with a valid SORN
- A vehicle that was exempted from SORN (untaxed before 31 January 1998 and no tax or SORN activity since)
- A vehicle recorded as 'scrapped'
- A vehicle recorded as 'stolen and not recovered'
- A vehicle recorded as 'disposed to the trade'
- A vehicle recorded as 'disposed'
- A vehicle recorded as 'exported'
- A vehicle owned by the crown