SLROC Forum

A new car insurance law will come into effect today that will mean it will be illegal to own an uninsured car.

As the law previously stood, uninsured drivers were only prosecuted if they were actually caught driving. The new rules
will see motorists being prosecuted for the offence by simply owning a vehicle without insurance regardless of whether they drive it.

Only if you declare the vehicle to be off road will you be exempt from the new rules. If you don't insure your car you could be faced with court action, a hefty fine or even have your car seized and crushed.


Tommy

Theres not actually really any change to the laws to honast. It was an offence in any case to have a vehicle on a road without a valid policy of motor insurance covering a minimum of their party liabilities. The definition refers to "using a vehicle on a road" and that meant keeping a vehicle on a road without actually driving it. It was still a offence regardless under S143 RTA 1988 and you could still be reported to the Fiscal or issued with a  ?200 fine and 6 points fixed penalty however in this situation the police would be less inclined to actually remove/seize the vehicle as it was not been driven. How do I know ?.....

We looked on the interweb today regarding this, and if youre vehicle is registered with DVLA as SORNED, then seemingly you dont need continual insurance.

My brother got hit by a kid driving without Insurance, flaming nightmare. Too many neds out there driving with no cover and yet more older ones who buy a policy, get the docs then cancel it. A  few very visible on the spot confiscations and crushings of blinged up Corsas would soon get the point over - " Whats that son, you're 40 miles from home and its raining? - Tough, your car is toast."

We looked on the interweb today regarding this, and if youre vehicle is registered with DVLA as SORNED, then seemingly you dont need continual insurance.

The interesting question will be how this affects all the vehicles that have been "off the road" since before young SORN was born. My Tractor last had a tax disc in 1988, the Series 2A in '89 and the Series 1, lord knows, some time in the 80s. DVLA didn't want to know when I asked the question. Perhaps they should have a category for "Long-Term" off-road to cover restorations, stuff in barns etc. Register it once as "off the road" and thats it logged. - Reminds me of the H&S Inspectors visit to the farm my brother was working on where the Report mentioned the mower that had a missing chain guard. The farmer read it and said - "We've not got a mower" - to which my bro replied, You have - its in the hedge over there, with a 2 ft thick tree growing through the middle of it !"

Gene

Where theres money to be made I've a funny feeling the DVLA will be in touch with you at some point. In fact they already have with a friend who had a scooter registered in the 70s and garaged since then.

Quite a lot of cars get taken off uninsured drivers in Perthshire and there really is no place to hide even if they cancel their insurance policy after taking it out. The Polis can carry out checks there and then and work very closely with the MIB Motor Insurance Bureau so 99% of the time  have accurate info. If in doubt the Polis will issue a 7 day ticket to the driver requesting their documents. Its actually quite satisfying watching the drivers faces as you tell them "oh,yes and we're seizing your car" right there and then ! Even better is that should the Polis be in pursuit of a uninsured car and it gets garaged before they get there, they have powers to force entry and take it ! Shame about the damage he he he.

Gene

Where theres money to be made I've a funny feeling the DVLA will be in touch with you at some point.

No problem if they are - I actually volunteered to SORN the various older projects lying about just in case and the lass at the end of the phone said not to bother.....  Seems daft to me, it should be all or nothing. I'd bin the idea of an annual re-sorning tho, thats just added paperwork for no reason. Glad to hear that some uninsured cars are getting crushed - I wonder if there are figures available. I might just ask !

Cars only get crushed if the drivers fail to collect them within a certain timeframe and can only do so once they can prove they are the owner, and is properly taxd motd and insured and pay the collection fee plus daily holding fee. I would suspect the vehicle would get auctioned off if it was half decent before getting crushed. I would be interesting to see the figures but I dont think it would be many.

Like Gene, I had the same thing when sorn came about.  I thought I would sorn a car I've still got and was told I didn't need to until I put it on the road, then took it off again!  I wonder if this is the only way they have of monitoring what's going on and off the road.  

I suspect it's too big a task to write to all the registered keepers whose vehicles road tax has lapsed and is recorded at DVLA as such
Duncan

I suspect it's too big a task to write to all the registered keepers whose vehicles road tax has lapsed and is recorded at DVLA as such
Duncan

[Rant on] I love the way the Govt work - they can put stuff like un-MOT'd and uninsured cars, illegal immigrants and tax-dodging bankers in the "too difficult" bin - but every cow, pig and sheep in the country is recorded, every movement on and off farm logged, every location recorded, every field mapped and measured to the centimetre. An Animal Health Inspector travelled down here from Perth to take a GPS reading for the centre of a field even tho I told her I've got a GPS and can give you a exact grid for the pig pen if you like..and at the time we had a holding of exactly 2 pigs......wierd what they think is important  and what is obviously not... [Rant Off] 

Yep-got it in one Gene!!

I suspect it's too big a task to write to all the registered keepers whose vehicles road tax has lapsed and is recorded at DVLA as such
Duncan
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I would have thought the dvla would jump at the chance to chase people for older vehicles not declared SORN especially if not taxed as they can fine you a max of ?2000 and backdate any road tax owed as well although this is digressing slightly from the insurance subject side of things. In fact if you think about it why would the DVLA wish to chase you for no car insurance anyway as its of no financial benefit to them. It really annoys me when i see untaxed vehicles knowing that i have to pay for mine and when i go to the PO the member of staff kindly informs me its another ?10 on top of what the reminder said. If i ever catch a driver without tax, I give them a ?60 ticket for starters, then report them to the DVLA who will also fine them and backdate any tax owed and if they aint got any insurance well..... bang goes their car,theyll get a ?200 fine, 6 points fixed penalty from me too, and they can pay ?105 seizure fee and ?12 per day holding fee too. Love it !!!! That ought to pee them off !

Decided to do some digging. Between 2006 and present Tayside Police seized 3600 vehicles from uninsured/anti social drivers of which 1300 were crushed. Pretty shocking at the number of uninsured drivers still on the road but at least they're getting chased and crushed !

In the first 3 months of this going live the Fife Police took 1800 cars off the road for no insurance, I found this out when I was stopped on my way to work, I was asked the usual questions before I got in the back of the 5 series, is it yours, whats your name, where are you going etc. When I got in the back I found they already had all the info, I was driving the wifes car and they new all the Drivers on the policy and new the expiry date on mot, tax, and insurance. its a bit big brother but I have to say it is a realy impressive system they are using and its fast.
I have nout to hide tho so Im glad when they take these idiots off the road.
To answer a previous question, They can only return the car to the owner or crush it, they cant remove any parts and cant sell it on, unlike the Impound in Edinburgh / Glasgow, any cars that are not claimed in 3 months can be sold on or scrapped, its upto the Council.

have a look at this site to check your insurance www.askMID.com  from now on you will receive a fine in the post if you have an uninsured vehicle that is not sorned.
be very carefull if you buy or sell a motor that the correct info is given to the dvla by yourself, a friend has sold a motor through the auctions at kinross handing all the paperwork to them, the new owner paid cash didn't register it and has now racked up 2k in fines that are coming back to him, currently in the hands of lawyers.