Got Done - Help!!!

[Fahrenheit P11]

Mr and Mr Roz Ers stopped me for "Random Checks" and found out I don't have Car Ins.
Story goes as follows:

Moved house last year.... been getting all my mail from the previous address regularly so ASSUMED I'd get the Car Insurance renewal as well. Clearly not. Forgot about my insurance renewal and been driving without insurance for around a month! And as dire chance and fateful cockup would have it, got "randomly pulled over" for a check.

They've taken my car and I'm now going to get it back as I have got new insurance.

How much do you think I am in for? Points? £££s? Courts involved? Mitigating Circumstances? Anyone had similar experiences?

[maxdb]

Usually you will get an IN10 with 6/8 points and a fine depending on the judge.

[Pebbles167]

6 points minimum, thats for damn sure.

Few hundred £ fine I think too. I feel for you somewhat mate, something similar happened to a friend last year.

[Bennet]

Unusual because I think the renewal would tend to happen automatically unless you take action to stop it.

[Nezquick]

Not good - I agree with above, you're probably looking at 6 points, maybe more. Fine will depend on the Judge and possibly your means.

You'll also have to notify your "new" insurers about this, and i'd guess that'll cause you a huge problem too in that your premium will rocket!

[Garlick]

Bennet said:

Unusual because I think the renewal would tend to happen automatically unless you take action to stop it.

Mine is the same, auto=renewal unless I call to say otherwise.

[Bennet]

Have you called your old insurance company to make 100% sure they didn't renew it? If they didn't, why not?

[Spare tyre]

bugger sorry to hear it

Doesnt help the OP, but i always take a picture of mot cert / insurance etc etc and email it to myself, can also then insert the picure into my calendar, so it reminds me 30 months before its due

Simple system but very handy when you have 3 or 4 cars

[Petrus1983]

Fahrenheit P11 said:

And as dire chance and fateful cockup would have it

In fairness it's not as bad as being in a big accident There do seem to be quite a lot of people finding this recently. I've just put all of my cars onto a multicar policy to avoid watching out for the renewal docs for different cars. Hope the judge isn't too unkind on you.

ETA - OP, just a thought, don't you need to tell your insurers when you move anyway? So the mitigating circumstance of not having received the post to your previous address may not be so mitigating after all.

Edited by Petrus1983 on Monday 31st March 13:56

[Decoy]

Bennet said:

Unusual because I think the renewal would tend to happen automatically unless you take action to stop it.

Yes mine usually says that the renewal will happen unless I notify them that I don't want it...

[Petrus1983]

Spare tyre said:

it reminds me 30 months before

That's very early

[wiliferus]

Garlick said:

Bennet said:

Unusual because I think the renewal would tend to happen automatically unless you take action to stop it.

Mine is the same, auto=renewal unless I call to say otherwise.

+1 Which I had to do this year as they had decided to double my premium.

OP, not much you can do, I would guess 6 points and about a £300 fine. You have to plead guilty as, well, you are. You can explain to the court the circumstances of your case and how you found yourself to be without insurance - They may take notice and go easy on the fine but don't count on it.

Biggest kick in the knackers will be your insurance premiums for the next few years.

[FRA53R]

Happened to a tenant of mine, he got a renewal notice but it wasn't automatic he had to reply to say that he was okay with the renewal cost. He didn't, so they cancelled.

Doubly unfortunate though was that he only had his license for just over a year and therefore the 6 points he got meant he was banned for 6 months and had to re-sit his test. So it could be worse

[robinessex]

I get a txt message as well as an e-mail about 1 month before insurance is due.

[M3DGE]

Petrus1983 said:

Fahrenheit P11 said:

And as dire chance and fateful cockup would have it

In fairness it's not as bad as being in a big accident There do seem to be quite a lot of people finding this recently. I've just put all of my cars onto a multicar policy to avoid watching out for the renewal docs for different cars. Hope the judge isn't too unkind on you.

ETA - OP, just a thought, don't you need to tell your insurers when you move anyway? So the mitigating circumstance of not having received the post to your previous address may not be so mitigating after all.

Edited by Petrus1983 on Monday 31st March 13:56

Yep, this does make any 'mitigation' tough - all insurance companies rate at the sub-postcode level, so it's not just for communication reasons that you need to tell them about moving. And sorry to agree with all other harbingers of doom, but your biggest problem will not be the fine but the significant increase in your premiums for about 5 years (compounded by the fact that you'll hardly be able to get an online quote from any of the main insurers). It's harsh, but .....

[decadent]

Bennet said:

Unusual because I think the renewal would tend to happen automatically unless you take action to stop it.

+1. I've changed insurance companies every year for the past 7 years and have had to actively stop my auto-renewal in every circumstance.

I remember it well as the first time I didn't actively cacncel the auto renewal and got landed with a £30 admin fee.

OP - check your bank statement? If on DD or pay yearly you'll see the payment taken, assuming you haven't changed banks/have no OD if there was no cash in the account then I'd suspect it the Ins company would try and again and then cancel the policy.

However, the insurance company would write and possibly email you numerous time to remind you that payment hasn't been made so you should have had received at least something from them....

[Northernchimp]

I don't really get how you could not realise that you were insured. Car insurance isn't exactly an insignificant amount of money. Anybody who does 'forget' should be treated the same as somebody who dodges it, ignorance is not a defence.

[MG0o]

Very unlucky OP, When I had some important exams coming up a few years ago I got my dates messed up and forgot about my MOT for 4 months! I was soo lucky that nobody noticed! not my tax is out of sync with my mot now but im happy with that lol.
You shall be hammered on your premiums for quite some time, any court fine will pale in comparison to how much they will milk you for it, shower of bds that they are.

[Pebbles167]

Northernchimp said:

I don't really get how you could not realise that you were insured. Car insurance isn't exactly an insignificant amount of money. Anybody who does 'forget' should be treated the same as somebody who dodges it, ignorance is not a defence.

Hypothetically someone is 45, earns £50k a year and who has been insured on the same car for the last few years might only pay < £100.

"Insignificant amount of money" is purely dependant on the person and their circumstance.

Plus if its been auto renewing for a few years you get in a routine of not checking. Very easily done.

[jon-]

Very unlucky. A friend had this happen, but hadn't changed address, Admiral just hadn't sent out a renewal for the multi car policy or auto renewed. As they had all the previous times.

Fortunately he was randomly pulled over literally 2 hours after it had expired, right outside his house. After seeing the proof the insurance had literally just ran out, the PC was extremely generous and let him off with a warning, providing he got insured the next day. Which he of course did.

It's nice there are still some good cops in the world.