Insurance to be mandatory?

New law means insure it or pay the penalty

By PH Staff / Thursday, 29 June 2006 / Loading comments

It must be insured

If you keep a vehicle then it will have to be insured, whether or not it's on the road. That's the implication of a news story today in the insurance industry's magazine Insurance Times.

The Motor Insurer's Bureau (MIB) said it had "successfully lobbied the Government to introduce a new law which will require all vehicles to have insurance". This will be in the Road Safety Bill, currently going through Parliament and will create a new offence of "keeping a vehicle without insurance".

The insurance industry -- which of course will stand to profit hugely from this -- reckons that it tightens up the law against those using a vehicle on the road without insurance.

The move came after the MIB started sending details of suspected uninsured cars to police forces up and down the country, which allegedly resulted in a 10x increase in arrests by police.

The MIB argues that the £30 extra it costs all of us to cover those who drive without insurance could be cut if this becomes law. Well, we'll wait and see -- prices tend to go up rather than down -- but if you've a vehicle or two off the road, they'll now need totally superfluous insurance.

Great move, Tony.

^{Picture courtesy of the Eastbourne & District Mini Club}