UK Motorists Foot £850m Bill for Insurance Fraudsters

Staggering figures, disclosed by the UK’s premiere online motor insurance bureau InsureYourMotor.com, show that uninsured drivers are pushing up insured drivers premiums from anything between £15-£30 per policy, per year. According to recent DfT Transport Statistics, there are approximately 28 million insurance paying motorists in the UK, collectively paying up to £850m a year to compensate the innocent victims of these fraudsters. The UK has one of the worst records in Western Europe, (second only to Greece), for this offence with an estimated one in every twenty, or some 1.5million, cars on the road being driven without proper insurance cover The insurance Industry is desperately trying to combat uninsured drivers with schemes such as the Motor Insurance Database, a recently completed scheme whereby all insurance companies are required to submit information regarding to their insured clients to a National Information Centre monitored by the MIIC (Motor Insurer’s Information Centre). The scheme is a positive step forward in the battle against motor insurance fraud, however, David Harlow, MD of leading online motor insurance broker InsureYourMotor.com, has his reservations, he comments: “The database is a good idea in principle, but motorists still have to be pulled over by the police or have a claim before they are checked. Now, unless they have more random spot checks this won’t really be much use. In my opinion the only way to crack down on drivers without proper insurance is heavier sentencing.” “Current sentencing for uninsured drivers is, quite frankly, laughable. A typical penalty for someone caught driving without insurance, averages around a hundred quid and a slap on the wrist, a risk worth taking you might well be thinking! There have even been instances where convicted drivers drive away from court after sentencing still having no insurance! It’s not fair on those people who are forced to pay high premiums for those who think they are above the law.” Earlier this year a banned driver, with 89 previous driving offences, who drove a stolen car through red lights killing a 6 year old girl was sentenced to nine and a half years. However, many feel that this sentence is still not adequate punishment and that the type of charges that can be levied for motoring offences when death is involved should be reviewed. The fact remains that if the Government does not act on this issue and start imposing heavier sentencing then we will almost certainly continue to see a rise in compensation payments from the increasing amount of UK road users.