Technology boost for the fight against uninsured vehicles

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Technology boost for the fight against uninsured vehicles

Modern technology has been developed to help in the fight against uninsured motor vehicles.

There have been 100,000 vehicle seizures this year, with 45,000 of them going on to be crushed, according to statistics from the Association of British Insurers. The high numbers, up from 78,000 seizures last year, are being attributed to new automatic numberplate recognition technology.

Nick Starling, director of general insurance and health at ABI, believes that many of the cars are not only uninsured, but are also not roadworthy. In practice, that means that the drivers are not just breaking the law but putting themselves and others at serious risk.

Starling has also said that the premiums paid by honest drivers have an additional £30 cost, due only because of the cost of compensating victims of uninsured motor vehicles.

He went on to say that the increase in vehicles being seized reflects the combined will of the insurance industry and police to remove uninsured vehicles from the road.

The group chief executive of the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, Ashton West, also believes that the campaign against uninsured vehicles has stepped up, and said that he expects increasing number of vehicles to be taken off the roads in the next few months.

West added that the reported claims to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau had fallen by 4%, and that he hoped and expected to see an even larger fall by the end of this year.