Two million motorists mistakenly driving without insurance

Millions of UK motorists have unwittingly driven without insurance, risking penalty points, a fine or a driving ban if caught by the police.

New research from LV= car insurance reveals that 2.2 million motorists have driven without insurance with the majority of these (1.8 million) mistakenly believing they were insured at the time. Many motorists assume the insurance on the vehicle they are borrowing, or the insurance they have on their own car, will automatically extend to other vehicles but this is often not the case.

The number of motorists borrowing cars has risen 14% in the last year. According to official Police data obtained by a freedom of information request from LV= car insurance, 22,000 drivers have been caught using a vehicle uninsured and been awarded penalty points in the past six months. However this is just the tip of the iceberg, as motorists driving friend's or relative's cars without insurance goes largely undetected.

One in six (18%) motorists have lent their car to someone else and of these, almost a fifth (19%) believed there was valid insurance in place when there wasn’t, and a further 4% simply didn't care that the driver was not insured. Both the car-lender and car-borrower would be guilty of committing a motoring offence if they were caught by the police.

Close to half (47%) of car-lenders who are committing a crime by lending their car to an uninsured driver say they lend their vehicle at least once a month. Of these, a quarter (28%) lend their car to an uninsured son or daughter and 15% to a flatmate.

The main reason for this apathy is that motorists do not perceive this as a serious crime and believe they will get away with it. Four in ten (44%) drivers say they would lend their car to a friend who is not insured to drive it, regardless of the law.