MIB claims for uninsured drivers fall 10%

by Gill Montia

Story link: MIB claims for uninsured drivers fall 10%

The Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) has reported that last year, police seized 150,000 uninsured vehicles from UK roads. The figure compares with 78,000 in 2006.

Over the past two years, the number of claims involving uninsured and untraced drivers has fallen by almost 10%, creating savings of over £30 million.

A spokesman for the MIB states: “We are really beginning to win the war against uninsured driving.”

For the past two years, police officers have had the power to confiscate a vehicle being driven without insurance and have as a result developed a closer working relationship the MIB.

The MIB runs the Motor Insurance Database, a record of cover details for every vehicle in the UK.

Cameras that read the number plates of passing traffic are linked to the database and automatically identify vehicles that appear to have no insurance.

Unless the owner of a confiscated vehicle pays fines and penalty charges and produces evidence of insurance, the vehicle is crushed.

In 2007, the MIB paid out £360 million to meet claims caused by motorists without insurance cover.

The funds are raised by a levy on all motor policies which adds around £30 to an annual premium.

Approximately 160 people are killed every year in crashes caused by drivers with no insurance.