Without insurance for 6 months

[laserk]

So... Basically, my car insurance renewal didn't go through so I was without insurance for approximately 6 months (I'm ashamed that I hadn't realised sooner - the insurance for the car isn't even expensive - like £160 for the year) in this time the car was driven once. When I realised it was uninsured (randomly checking askMID) I insured it straight away.

Could I get in trouble for any time the car was uninsured? It was MOTd and taxed.

Edited by laserk on Sunday 7th May 00:06

[ScoobyChris]

Could you? Yes
Will you? Unlikely

Chris

[descentia]

Nothing will come of it . My OH had similar happen , 4 months of no insurance before spotting the renewal hadn't done it's thing. They worked next to the Police HQ as well

[laserk]

Hopefully nothing will come of it, in the past when the renewal hasn't gone through we received notice by snail mail, don't think that's a thing anymore.

Thanks for your replies

[fourstardan]

Be a good chap and donate the money to charity though.

[Sheepshanks]

laserk said:

So... Basically, my car insurance renewal didn't go through so I was without insurance for approximately 6 months (I'm ashamed that I hadn't realised sooner - the insurance for the car isn't even expensive - like £160 for the year) in this time the car was driven once. When I realised it was uninsured (randomly checking askMID) I insured it straight away.

Could I get in trouble for any time the car was uninsured? It was MOTd and taxed.

That’s a bit odd - you should have had a letter warning you, and then a penalty, under Continuous Insurance Enforcement.

[Grumps.]

My payment card renewed half way through one of my policies and I had an email and phone call to inform me and to make payment.

God knows how anyone let’s it get to six months.

Edited by Grumps. on Sunday 7th May 10:52

[98elise]

Sheepshanks said:

laserk said:

So... Basically, my car insurance renewal didn't go through so I was without insurance for approximately 6 months (I'm ashamed that I hadn't realised sooner - the insurance for the car isn't even expensive - like £160 for the year) in this time the car was driven once. When I realised it was uninsured (randomly checking askMID) I insured it straight away.

Could I get in trouble for any time the car was uninsured? It was MOTd and taxed.

That’s a bit odd - you should have had a letter warning you, and then a penalty, under Continuous Insurance Enforcement.

When do those get sent?

Last year my insurance company messed up when I renewed and I ended up uninsured for a couple of months. Fortunately the insurance company said they would have covered me, but in the eyes of the law I was uninsured for a while.

I didn't get a letter. I only realised when I wanted to print on a certificate and couldn't find the documents on line.

[Sebring440]

laserk said:

So... Basically, my car insurance renewal didn't go through so I was without insurance for approximately 6 months (I'm ashamed that I hadn't realised sooner - the insurance for the car isn't even expensive - like £160 for the year) in this time the car was driven once. When I realised it was uninsured (randomly checking askMID) I insured it straight away.

Could I get in trouble for any time the car was uninsured? It was MOTd and taxed.

Yes you could get into trouble — for posting another bullst thread.

The continuous insurance rules would have kicked in quite a while back. And you only drove the car once in that time? Really?

[craig1912]

I was without a MOT for three months. Just completely forgot!

[Tribal Chestnut]

A very good ‘friend’ spent best part of a year riding around Central London with no tax or MOT - this was only a little before covid, so plenty of ANPR cameras etc about - yet received no penalties.

Same reason as yourself for the slip-up, just abject stupidity!

[Aretnap]

Sheepshanks said:

That’s a bit odd - you should have had a letter warning you, and then a penalty, under Continuous Insurance Enforcement.

My wife for one of those warning letters recently - about six months after she'd bought a car which as it turned out she never got round to insuring. Send that they're not exactly super-quick at sending them out.

[Jimmy No Hands]

craig1912 said:

I was without a MOT for three months. Just completely forgot!

Same recently - though more like 6/7 weeks. I was quite embarrassed. I just checked it on the off chance, luckily I was sat outside the dealer waiting to drop it off for a service.

I also had a TrafPol follow me for a few miles on the M62 a few days earlier and nothing!

[laserk]

Sebring440 said:

Yes you could get into trouble — for posting another bullst thread.

The continuous insurance rules would have kicked in quite a while back. And you only drove the car once in that time? Really?

You ok mate? Seem a bit unnecessarily angry?

Yep, only drove it once in that time, to the mechanics, who then had it from September to March. In March before picking it up I was randomly checking my other vehicles on askMID and this one turned up as uninsured.

Edit: Just checked the dates, dropped it off to the mechanic on 8th Sept, insurance ended in 15th Sept, so it was insured when I drove it there, it was just uninsured practically the entire time it was sat at the garage.

Edited by laserk on Sunday 7th May 18:28

[Dog Star]

fourstardan said:

Be a good chap and donate the money to charity though.

Why?

[Leptons]

Dog Star said:

fourstardan said:

Be a good chap and donate the money to charity though.

Why?

+1, absolutely bizarre.

[DaveCWK]

Sheepshanks said:

That’s a bit odd - you should have had a letter warning you, and then a penalty, under Continuous Insurance Enforcement.

Similar happened to someone I know & they didn't get one.
They did, however, get a letter from the police informing that their car had been pinged/spotted as being used with no insurance & they might want to look into why that might be!

Immensely lucky. I think it was part of the following initiative "Operation Tutelage":

https://www.hampshire.police.uk/advice/advice-and-...

[AlwynMike]

Last year, the OH and I both got "friendly warning" letters from local police that we had been spotted driving without insurance.
This came as a surprise. Checking with AskMID, sure enough, no insurance shown.
After frantically searching emails, I discovered that our multi car insurance policy was in fact in force and fully paid up! This was confirmed by talking to the insurance company as well. The following day, AskMID showed that we were insured......

[Henz]

AlwynMike said:

Last year, the OH and I both got "friendly warning" letters from local police that we had been spotted driving without insurance.
This came as a surprise. Checking with AskMID, sure enough, no insurance shown.
After frantically searching emails, I discovered that our multi car insurance policy was in fact in force and fully paid up! This was confirmed by talking to the insurance company as well. The following day, AskMID showed that we were insured......

I received a similar letter in which they assured me no action would be taken, but to resolve the issue which they suggested could be an admin error.

Was very embarrassed when I realised I'd not flagged the insurance company had an incorrect reg number (1 digit out but same vehicle details). Had been driving best part of 3 months with the incorrect details....

[Second Best]

I've recently had an issue where I'd got a new car, was away with work for a bit and couldn't provide a mileage reading. I knew, the insurers knew, no big deal. Just get it done when you're home.

That in itself was no problem. Mileage declaration, a photo sent, job done.

However I noticed on the complaint letter that I was told to expect, they'd got one of my registrations wrong. Think of it as A11ABC when it should have been A1ABC.

I'd been driving "uninsured" in A1ABC for 7 months. Never got stopped, I expect that if I did then the police would see it wasn't anything to be concerned about, but when I rang back the next day, I was told "that's a £25 admin fee sir, for your car change sir."

Whilst I was reasonably polite I think you can probably guess my mood after that.

The insurance manager woman cancelled all fees and apologised. My renewal is in about a month so I advised I'd like very favourable rates otherwise I'd publically complain about the insurer.