Do you have uninsured drivers in your town?
A growing number of people are driving without insurance and moneysupermarket.com has compiled the top 10 UK hotspots for uninsured drivers – is your town one?
Uninsured drivers cost the industry an estimated £500m a year and the cost of covering such claims falls on law-abiding motorists who do pay for insurance. Premiums are loaded by an average of £30 to cover the cost of meeting claims from people who’ve been involved in an accident where the driver at fault didn’t have insurance.
Here at moneysupermarket.com, we’ve analysed almost 3million car insurance quotes over 12 months.
We looked for the number of car insurance applicants who had an IN10 conviction – the offence code for driving without cover – and the figures are worrying. So where are the UK’s uninsured driver hotspots?
Top 10 hotspots for uninsured drivers
Postcode
Area
Proportion of searchers with IN10 conviction
DG4
Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire
28.42%
HX7
HebdenBridge, West Yorkshire
24.88%
G14
Glasgow
20.43%
M12
Manchester
17.42%
KA4
Galston, Ayrshire
15.79%
E9
Hackney, London
14.39%
B7
Nechells, Birmingham
14.29%
LU5
Dunstable, Bedfordshire
12.84%
HR6
Leominster
12.45%
W11
Notting Hill, London
12.37%
Based on 2.74 million of insurance quotes 1 Nov 2008 – 1 Nov 2009
Driving without due cover
What is particularly worrying about these statistics is that they only reflect drivers who’ve been convicted for illegal motoring – it’s possible that the numbers are actually even higher.
However, you’ll be pleased to hear that the penalties for driving without cover are hefty, not to mention well-enforced.
Steve Sweeney, moneysupermarket.com’s head of car insurance, explained: “Whatever the distance, driving without insurance is illegal. Anyone caught doing so could face hefty penalties which include a £200 on-the-spot fine and six points on their licence.
“There’s also the possibility of the car being impounded – involving a £150 collection charge and £20 per day charged for storage. If Brits are foregoing their motor insurance for cost reasons it clearly is a false economy.”
According to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), there are around 1.7million drivers on the road without cover. It’s launched a campaign to highlight the consequences of being caught behind the wheel without insurance.
Watch our interview with the MIB ‘Don’t take the risk – stay insured’ to find out exactly what are the dangers of driving without cover.
Youthful misdemeanour?
The cost of car insurance can be incredibly high for young drivers in particular and so it’s no surprise that they are most likely to risk driving without cover. In fact, the typical profiles of uninsured drivers in half the top ten hotspots were men under the age of 25.
Steve said: “It seems men under 25 years are not only the country’s ‘boy racers’ but also ‘law breakers’… The high cost of car insurance, especially for younger drivers, could be the overriding reason for this.
“Unfortunately, with recent news that the cost of comprehensive car insurance increased by almost 19% in 2009, we could see the number of uninsured drivers on our roads increase in the future.”
If you’re caught driving without insurance, you’ll pay higher premiums for a very long time afterwards, not to mention earning points on your licence and a fine.
The best way to keep the cost of cover as low as possible is to compare car insurance providers and find the right cover at the lowest possible cost. For other tips on cutting your premiums, read our article ‘Beat rocketing car insurance costs’.