Friday 7 September 2018

Finance Fridays – Motoring penalties and fines

We were looking at Multi Level Marketing and Direct Selling for last week's Finance Fridays. This week we are talking about a cost of motoring that not many people take into account – penalties and fines. If you stay on the right side of the law you won't be affected but some things are often down to bad organisation and being forgetful. Let's have a look at some of the things that could find you being in trouble and land you with a big financial cost.

Insurance – It's a big cost to add to your motoring bill but a legal requirement. Driving without insurance is a criminal offence and if caught on the spot by the police they can issue you with a fixed penalty of £300 and 6 penalty points. There's also a possibility of the case going to caught where an unlimited fine can be issued. The police can also seize the uninsured car and have it crushed.

If you lie or don't reveal relevant information to your insurance company you could find the insurance company cancelling the policy in the event of a claim. This could end up with you being responsible for paying for the cost of the incident out of your own pocket. In order to obtain future insurance you will need to declare what has previously happened. Some insurance companies will refuse to insure you at all while others will ramp up the premiums. To get the best value and right policy for you search through a number of car insurance companies.

MOT – All cars need a valid MOT certificate once they get to three years old. It can be an easy thing to forget to sort out especially since you physically need to take your car to an authorised garage to get it sorted. Every car is listed on a central computer so if your car doesn't have a valid MOT it will be picked up by ANPR cameras when out and about and soon the police will be stopping you. If caught the initial fine is around £100 if you get the MOT sorted quickly but if the case goes to court a maximum fine of £1,000 can be imposed. If you need to check if a car has a current valid MOT certificate you can check it here.

DVLA – The Driving and Vehicle Licensing Authority is the government department that deals with car registration and driving licences. Before you start driving you must have the correct licence for the type of vehicle you are driving. This depends on whether you have passed your driving test yet and the classification of the vehicle you are going to drive. For example a standard driving licence does not let you drive large lorries or commercial vehicles.


When you move address you will need to inform DVLA of your new address for both your driving licence and your car's V5C (log book). It's free to update the address on an existing licence but if you don't inform DVLA then you could end up with a fine of £1,000. With photo licences these need a new photograph added to it every ten years. The cost to you is currently £20 but again the fine can be as much as £1,000 if you don't renew.

Simply having a driving licence doesn't automatically entitle you to drive. If you have a developed medical condition or an existing one has got worse you need to inform the DVLA. Again a fine of up to £1,000 can be handed out of you don't tell the DVLA of significant changes in your health. If you cause an accident without informing the DVLA you could be liable to prosecution. If you need to speak to the DVLA about your driving licence you can find a selection of telephone numbers for them on DVLA Contact Number.

This is a collaborative post.

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