It is an offence to drive a motor vehicle without a certificate of insurance in place covering you to drive that vehicle on that occasion.

Due to the potential legal implications if you were to crash while driving an uninsured vehicle, this offence is taken very seriously by the Magistrates Court.

For you to be found guilty of driving without insurance, the Prosecution only has to prove that you were indeed using the car on a public road at the time in question and it is down to you to prove that you had insurance, its not down to them to prove that you didn’t. This is because it would be nearly impossible fort the prosecutors to go to every insurance company in the country and check that you weren’t insured, and so you must provide valid documentation that proves you were insured, or you will be found guilty.

One of the most common ways in which people get caught out with the no insurance law is that they may not actually drive the car, but the law states that you only have to have use of the vehicle in order to be liable for punishment under the no insurance law. Having use of the vehicle can simply mean having the vehicle parked on a public road outside your house and if it is not insured, then you can be prosecuted.

Another way in which a lot of people get caught out in relation to insurance offences is because they believe that their fully comprehensive insurance covers them to drive a vehicle owned by another person with their permission. A lot of fully comprehensive insurance policies do not actually have this type of cover as of right. This element of the cover is also sometimes dependant on the age of the policy holder.

It is extremely important to make sure that you fully understand the terms of your insurance policy and that whenever you drive either your own car or someone else’s, that you are actually insured.