Driving Without Insurance

If you’re charged with any type of motoring offence, it’s always worth having a solicitor by your side. The law is a complex and ever-changing thing, which is why our experts are constantly renewing their knowledge and developing their skills.

We can advise you in full of all your options according to your unique circumstances.

If you’re facing a charge of driving without insurance, we strongly advise you to contact us as soon as possible.

Driving without insurance is a strict liability offence. You either had insurance or not.

If there's been a mistake with your insurance policy (for example, the insurance failed to renew despite you confirming that you wanted the policy to auto-renew), we could help you obtain a letter of indemnity from the insurance company. If a letter of indemnity can be obtained, we can get the charge against you dropped.

You may also have special reasons if you were misled to believing that you were insured. For instance, if another family member was responsible for managing the insurance. If you can satisfy the court that special reasons exist, the court can use its discretion and not impose a penalty for the offence.

A special reason doesn’t amount to a defence, but it can be a mitigating circumstance that the court should consider. If you’ve a special reason for driving without insurance, you might be able to avoid penalty points on your licence.

Special reasons for having no car insurance could include:

• There was a genuine emergency which required you to drive without insurance.
• You were misled to believe that you were insured to drive at the time
• A fault on your insurer’s part, such as cancelling your insurance policy and not telling you.

If you've been caught driving without insurance, you may receive a fixed penalty offer of six points and fine. If you are sentenced by the court, the sentencing guidelines range from a fine and six-to-eight points, up to a fine and a disqualification for between six and 12 months.

The sentence will depend on the seriousness of the offence. If you've given the police false details or there's evidence of sustained uninsured use and your case involved an accident, you'll be looking at the most severe sentence.

Whatever your case, we can represent you and seek the most lenient sentence from the court.