Changes to Car Insurance Rules

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Geoff H
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Changes to Car Insurance Rules

Post by Geoff H »

Just read this ... It may be of interest to somebody who lays up their car during the winter


Changes to Car Insurance Rules
A change to the law will make it compulsory for all vehicle keepers in the UK, with the exception of Northern Ireland, to insure any vehicle that has not formally been declared off-road. This means that you must insure your car even if you don't drive it on the public highway, unless have submitted a SORN (Stautory Off Road Notification) for it.

The requirement will apply to those with vehicles kept garaged for long periods, as well as to motor caravans which, as their use is often seasonal, are commonly only insured for part of each year.

Keepers of uninsured, non-SORN vehicles could be penalised by.

• a fixed penalty of £100;

• having their vehicle clamped, impounded or destroyed;

• a court prosecution, with a possible maximum fine of £1,000;

• increased insurance premiums in future.

Full details of the new insurance requirements may be found at:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Ow ... G_10021514
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Robert T
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Post by Robert T »

I do find myself asking "and who exactly does this benefit?"

If a vehicle is garaged and not taken on the road, then the only thing your *should* need to insure it against is theft, unless there is a corresponding change in legislation to make your insurer responsible for any accidents your vehicle is involved in *after* it is stolen. Other than that, unless you live on a hill and the handbrake fails, and it demolishes the garage door and rolls off down the street...

I know why they are doing it - basically so that you can be fined for not having insurance by computer, much like the way the television licence is now enforced. That way SORN will cover insurance, tax and MOT, and you can be sent a fine in the post for not having any one of them.

Having said all that, I'm not sure how many people this will affect - even my classic car is insured fully-comp year-round, as I want to be able to drive it should the weather be half decent, even in winter, and the insurance is there to cover fire, theft and accidental damage.

Cheers R.
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ZZZEMMCO
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How many Govt,s within those Elected in 2010

Post by ZZZEMMCO »

Is this a leftover from the old Govt.Slime of motorist haters--or the NEW Govt. protectors of the Motorist ---NO change then?DVLA ARE the third Govt. :head:
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pingu
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Post by pingu »

What gets me is that the minimum insurance is Third Party. I've tried to get Theft Cover for SORN'd vehicles and it's not available.

What's the drama with SORN anyway?
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Post by Jamezee »

pingu wrote:What gets me is that the minimum insurance is Third Party. I've tried to get Theft Cover for SORN'd vehicles and it's not available.

What's the drama with SORN anyway?
Was only talking about this today! What cover do you need for sorn ? is it frowned upon by the insurance companies? I have no experience of sorn but may consider it in the future for winter.
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Jonttt
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Post by Jonttt »

I actually don't see the problem with this if they can catch more insurance dodgers (ie people who drive on the highway without insurance).

I always sorn mine anyway but just leave the car on insurance as its covered by a company policy.

I think its hard to get only 3rd party insurance on an ///M anyway but I believe most insurance companies will offer a discount whilst a car is sorned (ie they don't frown on it), whether the discount is worth the hassle is another thing.

If your car is not insured it should not be on the road so it should be sorned, I can't see the problem, should have been like that years ago ?
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Post by Jamezee »

Cheers Jonttt, mine has been my daily drive since 2008 :D but I may be looking to get a runabout for using next winter and am considering sorn on the zed.
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pingu
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Post by pingu »

I'll be interested to see how many cars the DVLA think I own.

I know that SORNing is easy to do, but what constitutes a car? I presume they will assume that every V5 in my name constitutes a car. Over the years I think I've scrapped 10 cars and not told them about one of them :oops: .

Is there an easy way to find out how many cars they think I own?

Google, then bed, I think :) .
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Mr Silver
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Post by Mr Silver »

The winners will of course be the insurance companies. The same goes for the gender crisis! Does anyone else see a pattern here?



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SCORPION
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Post by SCORPION »

I first discovered Sorn when I scrapped my wife's Metro which my son wrote off. ( Probably the best thing to do to a Metro). I cashed in the tax, got a refund then a few weeks later got a fixed penalty for not Sorning it. The penalty was twice the value of the refund ! Just because the car is scrap doesn't mean you don't have to Sorn it. You only do it once - hopefully.
Starting 2010 I'm going to Sorn the Z1 November to February. I don't use it while there's salt on the road and I'd rather have the £60 than give it to the government. I just retaxed it on Monday in time for the council to grit the roads - never mind I'll take it out very soon. There's even three quarters of a tank of cheap petrol in it.
I don't see a problem, as I understand it, as long as it's Sorned it does not need insurance. You just have to remember to reSorn every year or else you get fined.
The only problem I see is for the smalltime dealer/enthusiast who buys a car on Ebay, tidies it up and resells. You can't insure a car for just a couple of weeks.
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Post by siwilson »

OK, so let's try to look for a non money grabbing / big brother motive to this.

For simplicity the DVLA are dividing cars into two brackets. Those on the road that need tax and insurance and those off the road that don't need either. if a car is not SORN then 99 times out of a 100 it is on the road and being driven. In this case we all want 100% coverage for TAX and insurance so we're all sharing the load and we reduce the risk of being hit by an uninsured driver. All good I think.

If you take a car off the road and don't want to pay tax or insurance for a while then you SORN it and all is still good.

So this change only really affects those that take a car off the road, decide not to SORN it for some reason but don't want to pay any insurance? Does this make sense? Tax for anyone is going to be less than insurance, probably much less for most. Why would you be OK to pay TAX, but not insurance?

OK, so its another thing we are being told to do, but really is this going to have any impact?
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Robert T
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Post by Robert T »

I fear it is going to result in quite a few fines for the more forgetful amongst us.

On the one hand, it should cut down on the number of uninsured drivers, but then again, it may just increase the number of vehicles without tax, insurance or MOT, as having any one of them will mean you can be caught for not having either of the other two.

The insurance companies will be the winners here as more people will think it is too much hassle to SORN a car for a few months and end up insuring for a full 12 months.

If it gets uninsured drivers off the road, then good, but I'll believe it when I see it!

Cheers R.
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t-tony
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Sorn/insurance what a scam!

Post by t-tony »

Obvious point(to me anyway) is me,you, anyone can only drive ONE car at a time so why do you have to insure a car that you are not using. How will it reduce the amopunt of uninsured cars on the road,I dont get that,and IF you are lucky enough to have cars covered by company insurance well that's ok then,most don't. As regards being able to send out fines for none compliance big brother can already do that anyway,how else could you tax your car ovber the internet?? Just seems like another way to get their hands on some of our diposable income,which we must have if we can afford to keep our "TOYS" just for the summer. Lifes a B. . . h!!
siwilson
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Post by siwilson »

Sure you can only drive one car at a time, but a car can be stolen any time. Especially if you are not driving it at the time.
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pingu
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Post by pingu »

I've just taken the tax off 3 cars. I SORNed one of them, but I wasn't able to re-tax the other two online.

I've been to the Post Office and paid for overlapping tax.

DVLA are not obligated to remind you to reSORN, so if you forget, get your wallet out :twisted: .
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Robert T
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Post by Robert T »

pingu wrote:DVLA are not obligated to remind you to reSORN, so if you forget, get your wallet out :twisted: .
They aren't obligated to remind you to re-tax either - if you don't get a reminder or it gets lost in the post, you will still be fined!

I wonder when they'll start offering Direct Debit? :P

Cheers R.
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t-tony
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insurance

Post by t-tony »

While I accept a car could be stolen anytime wether on or off the road so could many other of our posessions BUT the government aren't about to threaten to fine us for not having them insured,are they? only our cars. Regardless wether they should send out warnings re. road tax etc. the point remains that they already have at their disposal the detail of the state of mot,tax and insurance of your car or you could not tax a car on the internet OR over the phone. I just dont see the need for it,am I alone???
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Robert T
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Post by Robert T »

The point of mandatory insurance on your car is to pay for any damage you might do whilst driving the vehicle, not to protect your property from theft or damage. Hence the legal requirement is third-party insurance only.

I was being sarcastic implying that they might change the law to make your insurer responsible for any damage done by your vehicle after it is stolen.

It is policing by computer and as we all know from watching the endless police camera shows, vehicles without tax or insurance frequently pop up other surprises... if a computer takes the place of these officers, this will go undetected. :(

Cheers R.
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t-tony
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insurance

Post by t-tony »

Why do the government think that just because you have a car with a current tax disc in the windscreen,as mine has by the way,you might be stupid enough to want to drive it with no insurance on the public road. Because we're all aware of the camera cars the police use which can check details in seconds as you said R,we see them all the time on TV. We all should also be aware that a percentage of our premiums is taken by the insurance companies to use to pay out on third party claims from uninsured drivers,perhaps this pool is in need of topping up,hence government backing to raise revenue?
zedwheels
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Insurance Issue!!

Post by zedwheels »

I got a question. When i bought my car back last August i trudged the net for insurance quotes most were ridiculous cos all my no claims is against my fiesta so was about to give up and then i got a call from "Be wise" brokers who could do the deal for £375. only thing was i was limited to 3000 miles under what they called a cherrished car policy. Anyway now in March and i got 300 miles left :head: So been shopping again cos got to have more miles now as top down weather is on the way. :sunny I got a quote from Admiral and they will do me a deal for £650 that covers both the wife's fiesta and the zed for next 12 months and allowing 6000 miles on the zed. now if i go ahead i'm going to have two live policies on the zed. Cos i dont want cancelation costs they make me boil, anyone know if there is a problem having two open policies on one car? :shrug
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pingu
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Re: Insurance Issue!!

Post by pingu »

zedwheels wrote:Anyone know if there is a problem having two open policies on one car? :shrug
Yes.

It's called over-insuring. What insurance will you claim on? Insurer A will say you should claim on insurer B and vice versa.

If they find out (which they will as they will check) they will assume that you are going to claim on both policies (even if you don't).

Nothing will happen until you make a claim, then you will have an interesting time trying to explain why you have two policies on one car.
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Re: Insurance Issue!!

Post by Zed Carer »

zedwheels wrote:I got a quote from Admiral and they will do me a deal for £650 that covers both the wife's fiesta and the zed for next 12 months and allowing 6000 miles on the zed. now if i go ahead i'm going to have two live policies on the zed. Cos i dont want cancelation costs they make me boil, anyone know if there is a problem having two open policies on one car? :shrug
When I got a stupid renewal quote on the Citroen last July I switched to Admiral for all three cars. As the Zed's insurance is not due until March they remained on their old policies and Admiral gave me a fixed price covering March to July this year. So you never actually have two policies on the same car.

I've just got the renewal quotes for the Zeds from DL the Z3 has increased by 65% and the Z4 by 50% so all I have to do is cancel the renewals. Admiral have written confirming the dates that the Zeds will switch to the multi-car policy.
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zedwheels
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Post by zedwheels »

Well it seems that to have two policies may result in problems should i need to make a claim! No other option then other than to pay to cancel the old policy once i get to use up the remaining 300 miles, that way i can switch to Admiral for both cars and have adequate new mileage to use during the coming months. :bawl:
Thanks for the replies. :thumb:
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t-tony
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insurance - again

Post by t-tony »

Well it's done.I found full years insurance for my Z(2.0 auto. W reg.) including breakdown recovery,over 1 mile away from home,inc.in europe.5,000 miles per year f/comp,£100 xs and £50 xs for w/screen cover needs to be garaged between 10.00 pm and 6.00 am.when unattended, all for £312.98p.This from Footman James brokers.
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marcusplowman
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Post by marcusplowman »

If your car is taxed and not SORN then it should be insured too...why would you want to keep a car taxed that you arnt driving...everyone always complains about giving the government money so why give them money for tax on a car that isnt on the road! If a cars taxed you intend using it on the road so it should therefore have insurance! The more people this catches the better...wish they would bring it out over here in NI too!
t-tony
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insurance

Post by t-tony »

While can agree in principle re.having a car taxed but not using it,it is MY choice to do so.If the government made it simpler to refund duty without losing a month every time ,I and probably others might use the system but when it still costs you one months tax to get a refund, that costs me money too.And just because I have a car with tax doesn't nesessarily mean I will drive it on the roads in the same way that just because I might own a shotgun doesn't mean I will go out and shoot someone,Does it???
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