Over half of people caught driving uninsured just made an honest mistake

Half of the people caught driving without insurance made a genuine mistake and had no intention of breaking the law, new figures show.

The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), which helps police track down uninsured vehicles, said “entirely avoidable human error” has resulted in thousands of people driving without coverage every day.

In the past three months, the MIB found that 30 percent of uninsured drivers lacked coverage because their policy had been canceled, often due to late payments.

Another 10 percent were uninsured because their policy had expired, and 9 percent were invalidly insured because they accidentally breached the terms of their insurance contract.

In two out of three of these drivers, the vehicle was subsequently seized by the police because it was not insured.

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 date: If a driver forgets when the policy expires, or mistakenly assumes that the policy will renew automatically, it may lapse.

Cancellation policy: Insurers can cancel coverage if consumers fail to pay 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 their insurer.

Up: Auto insurance premiums are rising again after two years of lower prices

Driving someone else’s car: Many motorists make the mistake of assuming full coverage will allow them to drive someone else’s car, but this is not often the case.

It is important to check whether the policy includes a Drive Other Vehicles (DOV) extension.

Many motorists also mistakenly assume they are a named driver on someone else’s policy.

Using the vehicle for the wrong purpose: When taking out car insurance, you must choose what you want to use the car for, for example business or social, private and private.

Taking out one policy and then using your car for another means driving without insurance.

MIB law enforcement manager 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 may have unwittingly broken the law as a result of human error.

“Not only can this be a negative experience for the driver, but it also impacts police resources as they would prefer drivers not to make mistakes and have insurance so they can focus on motorists who deliberately drive uninsured and pose the greatest risk to the road. safety.’

If someone wants to see whether their vehicle appears as insured on the MID, they can check out his website for free.