Top of the range drivers skipping car insurance

Monday, 18 February 2008 12:00

The motoring upper-class is joining the underclass with increasing numbers of drivers of high specification vehicles being caught for having no car insurance.

New data from the AA reveal 150,000 uninsured cars were seized by the police last year - up from 78,000 cars in 2006.

The increased number of insurance cheats being caught has, however, seen a fall in the number of claims for accidents with uninsured drivers - down 36,340 in 2006 to 34,239 in 2007.

The rise in top of the range car drivers being caught is being put down to the police use of number plate recognition technology.

Edmund King, AA president, said: "The more widespread use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras by the police means the net is closing in on uninsured motorists. Some motorists feel driving a top of the range car means they are less likely to be stopped.

"This may have been true a few years ago but the camera does not discriminate."

He added: "However, some villains are trying to stay one step ahead of the chase by using foreign number plates to try to avoid detection. We need to increase the checks on foreign registered vehicles - plates from a left-hand drive eastern European country on a right-hand drive car is often a sign."

The AA has now identified the different types of drivers motoring without car insurance:

• Motoring under-class: Drivers trying to stay incognito to avoid insurance, tax, parking tickets or congestion charges.
• Motoring upper-class: Drivers who buy more expensive cars but cannot afford to insure them.
• False registers: Drivers with a properly plated car drive uninsured as it is registered to an incorrect address or PO Box so no parking or speeding tickets can be served - until they are spotted by police cameras.
• Car poolers: A number of 'pool cars' are left uninsured, untaxed by gangs.
• Clones: Drivers who steal the identity of a similar car to try to avoid payment of insurance
• Foreign number plates: Drivers who disguise a cars' identity with forged or stolen foreign plates.
• Chancers: Motorists who take a calculated risk and try to drive a month or two without insurance.

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