Own a car? Dont worry, its getting better under the tories.

[Freamon]

What if insurance companies start offering specialist SORN policies where the premium is £1 a year and the excess is £5 million?

[RichardCranium]

What if insurance companies start offering specialist SORN policies where the premium is £1 a year and the excess is £5 million?

And what if insurance companies started offering FULLY COMPREHENSIVE policies where the premium is £1 a year and the excess is £5 million?

And why don't they?

(That's not a rhetorical question, like Freamon's idea (Plan B?), I do not know why not.)

[Freamon]

And what if insurance companies started offering FULLY COMPREHENSIVE policies where the premium is £1 a year and the excess is £5 million?

And why don't they?

(That's not a rhetorical question, like Freamon's idea (Plan B?), I do not know why not.)

It's a gross example, but it does raise the question: At what level of excess does someone become effectively "uninsured"? Because the level of excess on some policies is ridiculous. Mind you I suppose it doesn't apply in the case of third party claims, maybe that's the key.

[The_Equalizer]

Somebody who's prepared to drive uninsured is not going to worry about falsely declaring it SORN too.

The crazy thing is the fines are often less than the cost of insurance.

This then makes insuring off road vehicles a complete waste of time. Those that play by the rules will end up being out of pocket and those that drive uninsured vehicles carry on regardless.

Why not just have a crack down and ensure the fines are enough to do the job? It's not hard to catch uninsured drivers using number plate recognition software.

[VectraMan]

It's a gross example, but it does raise the question: At what level of excess does someone become effectively "uninsured"? Because the level of excess on some policies is ridiculous. Mind you I suppose it doesn't apply in the case of third party claims, maybe that's the key.

WHS. To be legally covered the insurance has to fully cover a third party. A lower premium and infinite excess policies have existed for years: called 3rd party only. (Though one crazy thing I found recently was that I could get comprehensive cheaper than 3rd party only).

And if you're super-rich, you "self-insure", which is the same as having a massive excess.

The real problem is the cost of insurance. You can get a perfectly usable reliable car for £500, then it costs you £1000 per year to insure. It's not hard to see why people take the chance.

[Freamon]

This then makes insuring off road vehicles a complete waste of time. Those that play by the rules will end up being out of pocket and those that drive uninsured vehicles carry on regardless.

Why not just have a crack down and ensure the fines are enough to do the job? It's not hard to catch uninsured drivers using number plate recognition software.

Overzealous use of ANPR will just lead to more cloned plates appearing, which makes a bad situation worse.

Did you know that around 12% of vehicles driving around have something illegal about them (e.g. no tax, no insurance, plates for the wrong vehicle, registered at invalid address, driver has a driving ban, etc)? Enforcement has been so poor over the past several decades, seems hard to believe it'll magically start improving now.

Most councils/police forces have tens of millions of unpaid fines assigned to drivers that they are unable to chase up.

[xoggoth]

It says further down

Police gained powers at the end of 2005 to seize uninsured cars, but to use their powers they have to catch the driver at the wheel. Under the new offence of keeping a vehicle while uninsured, the onus will be on drivers to prove that they have insurance, or have completed a statutory off-road notification.

So if people have done a SORN they won't have to have insurance? Doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the article but if that is the case seems ok.

[AtW]

The real problem is the cost of insurance. You can get a perfectly usable reliable car for £500, then it costs you £1000 per year to insure. It's not hard to see why people take the chance.

You can drive £1 car into building and cause a million quid worth of damage - it's about 3rd party risk insurance with God knows whom driving one and a half ton vehicle at high speed.

They want those SORN cars insured because I bet there are plenty of people who declare car off road but actually drive it on public roads.

[The_Equalizer]

Overzealous use of ANPR will just lead to more cloned plates appearing, which makes a bad situation worse.

Did you know that around 12% of vehicles driving around have something illegal about them (e.g. no tax, no insurance, plates for the wrong vehicle, registered at invalid address, driver has a driving ban, etc)? Enforcement has been so poor over the past several decades, seems hard to believe it'll magically start improving now.

Most councils/police forces have tens of millions of unpaid fines assigned to drivers that they are unable to chase up.

So the bottom line being there's a hard core of offenders who have a complete disregard for any form of legislation. Forcing all SORN vehicles to have insurance will mean law abiding types pay unnecessarily and the problem isn't reduced.

How about attempting to make it socially unacceptable in the same way drink driving has now become?

[AtW]

Forcing all SORN vehicles to have insurance will mean law abiding types pay unnecessarily and the problem isn't reduced.

Problem can be reduced because *ANY* vehicle without insurance can be stopped, towed away, crushed etc.

This sure does not solve it, but if you've got a vehicle it should be insured as it's a real risk.