Are you allowed not to insure your car?

[garlictwist]

My car insurance is up for renewal and I just don't have the money.

Due to an injury I am not driving at the moment. Is it ok to let the insurance lapse and then reinsure when I can afford it? (It goes without saying I would not drive it whilst uninsured).

It's fully taxed for the year and would just be parked on the street outside my house (no driveway). I guess the issue would be if someone broke in or stole it.

If you can't afford to insure it and won't be driving it I would sell it. You get your unused tax money back and second hand car prices are high at the moment. Then either buy something a lot cheaper and have money left over for insurance or just dont have a car for a bit and have a nice lump of cash instead.

Thanks all. I thought SORN was for not taxing the vehicle but guess I'm wrong.

I can't really sell it as two of the doors have big dints in (still fine for MOT but very expensive to repair so I haven't). I guess I will have to try manage the insurance somehow as there is nowhere else I can leave it other than the street.

Call your insurance company and the the lowest cover - 3rd party, lowest mileage, no breakdown and other extras. Then upgrade again when you start using it.

There was a really nasty accident the other day in our village where someone just drove straight into a parked vehicle - no idea what was going on but apparently they just ploughed into it as if it wasn’t there at all. Good visibility and lots of room to go around, they just didn’t for some reason (police are investigating). So you definitely want to be insured if it’s on the street as you could still end up having your car involved in a crash, even if you’re nowhere near it.

Driving of other vehicles on your insurance. Don’t assume you’re covered. It used to be standard on Comprehensive cover, but nowadays it depends on your policy and if the cover of your policy does allow it is third party only

You can get policies which give you fully comp DOC cover as an add-on.

Yes, but it’s an add on. That is my point.

No, you said DOC is third party only. I’m saying you can get fully comp DOC.

I’d speak to your insurance company and see how low you can get it. Otherwise see if there’s a caravan storage facility or similar somewhere nearby that you could pay a small amount to park the car and SORN it there.

I didn’t know that, thank you correcting me.

Yes you can SORN it but you must park it on your drive or someone else's drive.

That only covers cars you don’t own though.

If it is to remain parked on a public road then it must be both insured and taxed and cannot be SORNed

SORN stands for Statutory Off Road Notification. So to declare SORN then the vehicle must not be on public road at all. Not even if only parked. It must be on private land and cannot leave that.

If it’s on your private property you can do a SORN declaration and have remaining tax refunded until you are ready to use it again and you don’t have to insure it.

If it’s on the street it needs to be insured.

Also be aware that a car that is not being driven for long periods is likely to experience a flat battery and possibly even seized breaks. It needs to be parked on a flat area with the handbrake off. I speak from experience! Can you pay your insurance monthly instead of in one go?

We tried to do this when DH had a medical suspension, but his car doesn’t fit on our drive completely. We looked at places that you can store cars but it was expensive as insuring it and then you still needed insurance.
The only thing is to think of anyone you might know who has space to store it off road.

Yes, absolutely.

Can you afford 3rd party insurance. It covers if your car causes damage to other cars but not for your own if it’s your own fault. If you’re involved in an accident that’s not your fault the other persons insurance will cover the repairs to your car.
Its a lot cheaper than comprehensive

You must insure and tax if it's parked on a public road. On private land you can sorn and not insure

Third party fire and theft insurance is frequently as expensive (and sometimes more expensive) than fully comprehensive. It's seen as a type of policy indicative of a high risk insuree.

I’d sell it to WeBuyAnyCat.

The car must have insurance even if the driver is covered by their own comprehensive policy

This isn’t true.

https://www.pattersonlaw.co.uk/faqs/can-drive-uninsured-car/

I'm not sure they'd be interested in a car

You could always sell it to webuyanycar or similar

OP, you seem to have accepted it would be a bad idea. Insurance companies often charge a fee to change or cancel a policy so it may not be as cost effective as you think. As it seems relevant and others may find it useful I'll leave you with........

A Cautionary Tale

Many moons ago when I worked for a local authority, one of our tenants came into the office in a panic as he'd knocked down a wall in the garage area next to his house. He'd recently injured his foot and it was in a cast. As he couldn't drive his car he thought he'd save himself the insurance money, SORN the car and put it in the garage. Unfortunately he cancelled the insurance BEFORE he moved the car.

He got in the car, went to reverse but his cast got stuck between the pedals and he went straight back into the wall of the garage. He was OK other than being shaken up but he ultimately had to pay for repairing the wall as well as his car. If he'd waited 5 minutes to cancel his insurance he'd only have paid his excess. As it was I think the cost of repair to the wall alone was about £500 and that was the using Council's own tradesmen.

I have another Cautionary Tale about We Buy Any Car which I don't have time to tell now. Just Don't. They are rip-off b*, who will not give you anything like the online "quote" and if your car is older, as it sounds yours is, you could get less than your monthly insurance premium for it.