Legal Issues: Liability & Papers & Documents

Legal Minimum

Find out here about Legal issues (UK); including car insurance for any driver, Insurance band & Liability, Document & Papers, Driving with no insurance, and what's included in cheap insurance covers.

In the United Kingdom the minimum legal requirement for Car Insurance is Third Party Only Cover.

Car Insurance companies will generally offer you three types of Car Insurance cover

For total cover you should opt for a Comprehensive type policy. This will cover not only damage to the other person's vehicle in the event of an accident but it will also cover damage sustained to your own car. This is usually the most expensive type of Car Insurance cover but gives you complete peace of mind.

The second highest form of Car Insurance cover is Third Party Fire and Theft. In the event of an accident this type of policy will cover you for damage sustained to the other person's vehicle but will not cover damage to your own car. However, it will cover fire damage to your car and any theft issues relating to your vehicle.

Finally, the minimum form of cover is Third Party Only. This is usually the cheapest Car Insurance option and will only cover damage sustained to the other drivers car. It will not cover your own vehicle. Generally speaking most people will opt for Third Party Only cover when their car has a very low value. In other words it may not be worth spending extra money on a Comprehensive policy for a car that doesn't cost very much anyway.

You should always check with your Car Insurance provider as to what their policy actually does cover.

Current legislation and penalties

Driving without insurance against third party risk is an offence contrary to Section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The requirement is for the driver to be insured, rather than the vehicle, and, following the recent Greenaway review of ways to tackle uninsured driving, it is not proposed to change this. The driver may be insured to drive one or more specified vehicles only or to drive any vehicle with the consent of the owner.

The penalties available for the offence are a maximum fine of £5,000, the automatic endorsement of an offender's licence with 6-8 penalty points and possible disqualification. On 1 June 2003 driving uninsured became an offence for which, instead of prosecution, a fixed penalty could be offered. The level of the fixed penalty was set at £200 plus 6 penalty points (The Fixed Penalty (Amendment) Order 2003, S12003 No 1254.).

For drivers still within the 2-year probationary period prescribed by the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995, a conviction, or fixed penalty notice for driving without insurance leads, in addition to a possible fine, to the revocation of their driving licence and the necessity to retake a driving test.

Detection of the offence and therefore the possibility of better enforcement will be increased significantly by the expanded use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology which enables the police to make immediate checks against relevant databases, including the Motor Insurers' Database (MID).

At present, however, the only action police can take after detecting a person driving without insurance is to issue a fixed penalty notice or summons. The person is therefore potentially able, albeit illegally, to continue driving whilst uninsured.

The Secretary of State already has powers (exercised by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) to seize a vehicle that does not have a current Vehicle Excise Licence (tax disc). Additionally under the Police Reform Act 2002 the police have the power to seize and remove a motor vehicle if the vehicle is being driven in a careless or inconsiderate manner; or off-road without authority, and in a manner causing or likely to cause alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public.