The Legal Implications of Avoiding Car Tax and Insurance:

Most of us accept that driving a car comes with some quite significant costs - insurance, tax, upkeep, services, fuel and so on. However a growing number of motorists are breaking the law by not paying for their vehicle to be insured or taxed.

Why is it so important to insure my car?

First of all because it's illegal not to. If you are going to take a vehicle out on a public road then the law states that you MUST have motor insurance. There are different classifications for insurance but essentially the cover will protect you and anyone who is involved in a road accident with you.

Most importantly, in most cases you will be covered for legal costs and medical costs if a serious accident occurs for which you are at fault and either you or someone else involved in the accident needs expensive medical treatment and/or aftercare.

If you are involved in an accident that is your fault, then the person involved in the accident will have monies refunded for car repairs, or in the case of the car being written off, will receive a lump sum to enable replacement of the vehicle. They may also receive compensation for medical injuries.

If you are fully comprehensively insured then your car should be repaired too, however if you are insured 3rd Party, Fire and Theft, then you will only receive these payments if your car is damaged by fire or is stolen and you will need to fund any car repairs or replacements (for your vehicle)yourself.

If you don't have motor insurance, then you could find yourself without a car and facing a court case - not to mention hefty legal bills, medical bills, vehicle repair or replacement costs and compensation to the victim. In some cases you may even find yourself the subject of a civil claim from anyone injured in an accident and in the case that they are fatally injured or are unable to work, their families.

Motor Insurance protects you too. If you are involved in an accident is not your fault but don't have motor insurance, then you can't claim and may well be sued by the driver, any of their passengers, and potentially the insurance company for the other party.

I already pay tax on my fuel. Why do I have to pay road tax?

Regardless of how you feel about it, road tax, or to give it the proper name ‘vehicle excise duty’, is a legal requirement if you want to drive on public roads - and it's also a hot government topic at the moment.

The payment system has been completely reclassified over the last couple of years and now rather than being based on the size of the vehicle engine, it is now classed on the amount of Co2 emissions that a car produces – the ‘cleaner’ or ‘greener’ the car, the lower the Co2 emissions and the lower the Road Tax. So called ‘gas guzzlers’, such as 4x4s and performance cars can now cost up to £500 per year to tax - and in this carbon-footprint aware age, this is going up frequently. As a new tax on first year ownership of new 4x4’s is phased in, this will bring the price of taxing a brand new vehicle with high Co2 emissions to around £1000.

How will they know if I don’t pay?

The DVLA have a huge database which records every car that is on the road in the UK and when the tax on that vehicle runs out. If you don’t renew your duty, then the database will flag up your registration number and you may find yourself clamped outside your own property or even somewhere else - like your office car park. The DVLA have entered into partnerships to find car tax evaders and over a 3 month period, NCP branded vans clamped and removed over 350 untaxed cars in one area alone.

Did you know that not having car tax invalidates your motor insurance?

A lot of people don’t realise that if they ‘forget’ to renew their road tax when it runs out – or don’t purchase it at all – then their car insurance is null and void. If they are involved in an accident while untaxed, then they will essentially be uninsured and will be subject to all the consequences as described above. Even if they have been paying their car insurance, it won’t make any difference – you’re still guilty of committing a criminal offence.

So what can happen if I’m caught?

Depending on what you’ve done, the consequences can be pretty nasty. At best, you’ll get a fine and potentially a ban. You might find that your car is clamped, towed away and resold or even crushed – and of course as you’re not insured, you won’t get a penny for it. Worst case scenario: you’re caught because you’re involved in an accident and you end up in court, bankrupt and facing a jail sentence. So just remember; if you can’t afford to tax and insure your vehicle, then you can’t afford to drive it.

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