If you’re convicted of a motoring offence, it’s likely that on top of any financial penalties you may face, your driving record will also be endorsed.
Depending on the severity of the offence committed, endorsements will remain on your driving license for between 4 and 11 years.
TIP: You can now view your driving record online to see if you have any penalty points and when they will be removed.
What happens if you’re caught driving without insurance?
If found to be driving without car insurance (or insurance that does not properly cover you), you will receive a driving conviction and an endorsement will be placed on your record.
For the offence of driving without insurance, you will receive an IN10 conviction.
How many points do you get for driving without insurance?
An IN10 conviction carries between 6 and 8 penalty points which will remain on your driving record for a 4 year period. If you already have points on your license for other offences, such as speeding, you could be at risk of receiving a ‘totting up’ ban if you reach the 12 maximum allowed points.
How much is the fine for driving without insurance?
You will also be liable to face a minimum fine of £300 (recently increased from £200) and a maximum fine of £5,000. And, while in most cases the minimum fine is handed out, repeat offenders or those with other serious driving offences are likely to face harsher penalties.
I didn’t know that I wasn’t insured, will I still be penalised?
Unfortunately innocent mistakes or a lack of understanding are some of the leading causes of motorists being convicted of driving without insurance.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s due to a bounced direct debit resulting in a missed payment, failing to provide information such as modifications to your vehicle or simply down to confusion over what exactly your policy covers. If you’re found to be driving without insurance you’ll be treated by the legal system in the same way as a driver that has committed a flagrant violation of the law.
If you’re not sure what your policy covers, whether it’s driving somebody else’s vehicle, using your car for work or travelling abroad, we strongly recommend that you consult your policy documentation to avoid an accidental offence.
How do the police know that you don’t have insurance?
Most modern police vehicles are fitted with highly specialised automatic number plate recognition, or ‘ANPR’, systems. The cars are fitted with sophisticated cameras that read the number plate of passing vehicles and an on board computer automatically checks several databases to check for things such as outstanding warrants, stolen vehicles and insurance details. If anything doesn’t check out with the vehicle the computer notifies the officers who will then stop the driver for further checks.
The motor insurance database holds the details of every car insurance policy and the police and DVLA have full access to this to check whether a driver is insured or not.
In some cases, for example if you’ve only just taken out the policy, the police may ask you to provide proof or may wish to contact your insurance company to verify that you’re covered.
What about IN10 conviction insurance?
Unfortunately if you’ve been convicted of driving without insurance and have an IN10 endorsement, you’re going to be hit with higher insurance premiums until the offence is removed from your driving license in 4 years.
IN10 insurance specialists are out there and they can help you to reduce the cost of your policy, however, you should be aware that you’re still going to face increased premiums regardless of how much shopping around you do; insurance companies view drivers with convictions as high risk customers.
By using a specialist insurance broker you stand a better chance at finding the lowest price and fortunately Quote Chief work with several of these brokers. If you’re looking for IN10 insurance, we can pass your details on to our panel of brokers who will all get to work with their underwriters to find the lowest premium possible.
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