Millions of UK motorists drive without insurance, says report

Millions of UK motorists have run the risk of penalty points, a fine or a driving ban after driving without insurance, the latest research by LV= has revealed. 

The survey found that 2.2 million motorists have driven without insurance, with the majority (1.8 million) mistakenly believing they were insured at the time.

The number of motorists borrowing cars rose by 14% last year despite facing fines of up to £5,000 if caught by the police, up to eight points on their license and, in some circumstances, an instant driving ban.

According to official police data obtained under a freedom of information request from LV= car insurance, 22,000 drivers have been caught using a vehicle that was uninsured and been awarded penalty points in the past six months, yet this is just the tip of the iceberg as motorists driving friends’ or relatives’ cars without insurance goes mostly undetected.

One in six (18%) motorists have lent their car to someone else and, of these, almost a fifth (19%) believed a valid insurance was in place when there wasn’t, and a further 4% did not care that the driver was not insured.

Almost half (47%) of car lenders who are committing a crime by lending their car to an uninsured driver say they lend their vehicle at least once a month. Of these, a quarter (28%) lend their car to an uninsured son or daughter, and 15% to a flatmate.

About four in 10 (44%) drivers say they would lend their car to a friend who is not insured to drive it, regardless of the law.

LV= managing director John O’Roarke said: “Thousands of motorists lend their cars to others and don’t realise they are not insured to drive them. If someone has driven your car without insurance, and with your permission, you could face a fine and up to eight points for permitting a vehicle to be on a public road without an insurance policy being in force.

“The root of the problem is that many drivers assume that by having comprehensive insurance on their own vehicle, they are automatically covered to drive other vehicles – but this is not always the case. Some policies offer no cover at all, some offer third party only, meaning in the event of an accident where the car borrower was at fault there would be no payment for any damage to the vehicle. We would advise drivers who are lending out their car to add the car-borrower to their insurance policy as a named driver to ensure there is valid insurance in place.”