Car Insurance. Uninsured cars head for the crusher

If you're one of the one in twenty motorists who regularly drive without insurance you'd better watch out. Your car could be heading for the crusher!

Home Insurance Premium Protection In Case Mishap Takes A Rain Check: A good insight into Home Insurance Policies
Do you have pest protection?: Have you considered just how expensive a pest infestation could be. Check out the insurance facts.
Contents insurance – check your cover: It's easy to arrange your home and contents insurance and then forget about it. Make sure that you're up to date with the cost of replacing your belongings.
Landlords Insurance: A must read for landlords !
Insurance Providers Weather the Storm While Consumers Flounder: Severe weather gives rise to many claims on home insurance policies. Read this article and make sure your policy provides the cover you need.
Home and Contents Insurance. Keep your home in shape for insurance's sake: Your claim on home and contents insurance could be rejected if your insurer thinks it's a maintenance issue – this article tells you what to do to keep your home in shape.

Life Insurance News

New rules now enable the police to seize, impound and crush any car found being driven without insurance. Since a pilot scheme was introduced in spring last year, { mortgage quotations }the police have impounded more than 1,200 cars and over 650 have been crushed into cubes. Operation Takeaway, as the pilot was called, has been so successful that police forces throughout the UK are rolling out the scheme supported by a revised database that enables them to check the insurance status of every car in the UK.

Now if you're caught driving without insurance you must hand the car keys to the police at the roadside. This applies to everyone - it doesn't matter whether the lack of insurance is just an inadvertent mistake or a conscious evasion.

You then have 14 days to show the police a valid insurance policy and recover your car. And other costs will mount up. You'll have to pay the cost of the police recovering your car (circa £105) plus the secure storage that could easily cost £15 per day. So, if you recovered your car at the last minute, you could be in for a bill from the police for £315.

And if you don't reclaim the car, it can be crushed into a metal cube { life insurance } and shipped off to a scrap smelter in the Far East.

During Operation Takeaway, the crushing of the cars was part funded by Direct Line. They have estimated that the scheme has prevented as many as 2,000 accidents.

And the Durham police who operated the test, { mortgages } found that many of the cars they impounded were not roadworthy. A spokesman for the police said, " Uninsured drivers are often guilty of many other offences, such as having neither MOT certificate or driving licence. We are doing everything in our power to get these illegal, dangerous drivers off our roads".

Click here for part 2