Motor insurance:

[[XAP]Bob]

• 1 in 10 18-34 year old drivers are unaware that car insurance is a legal requirement
• 3 in 4 drivers are currently looking for ways to reduce motor insurance costs
• About 900,000 drivers under the age of 30 are currently driving without insurance
• 60% of drivers think they are likely to be caught and only 7% are aware of all the possible consequences when they are caught.

How can 10% of 18-34 year old drivers not know that insurance is a legal requirement?

[ANTONISH]

[quote="[XAP]Bob

How can 10% of 18-34 year old drivers not know that insurance is a legal requirement?

[/quote]
Perhaps they don't want to know - funny how they know that cyclists are in the wrong for "not paying insurance"
Also many drivers have strange ideas about the content of the highway code.

[gbnz]

How can 10% of 18-34 year old drivers not know that insurance is a legal requirement?

Well insurance is fairly irrelevant. If you haven't got a licence, the vehicle doesn't belong to you, it's got no MOT, the brakes don't work, etc, etc, etc

Given we live in a two tier society, I'm far happier now that I no longer have to manage and deal with members from the lower tier.

[Swizz69]

gbnz wrote: If you haven't got a licence

There is a column in our local free rag which lists a chunk of the weeks court convictions, and have lost count of how many times I've read, "Driving without a License - received fine and a 12 months ban." Okaaaaay...

[benm]

gbnz wrote: If you haven't got a licence

There is a column in our local free rag which lists a chunk of the weeks court convictions, and have lost count of how many times I've read, "Driving without a License - received fine and a 12 months ban." Okaaaaay...

IIRC an offender can't be sent down for driving without a license, however driving whilst banned (with or without a license) is a more serious offence for which custody is not ruled out - I guess it is, in effect, contempt of court. So if your ned gets caught whilst banned even though he doesn't have a license... down he goes

B.

[Mick F]

18 to 34 year olds?
Maybe I could understand 18 to 22 year olds.

[gilesjuk]

Perhaps it's something they should include in the driving test?

Not that all people with a licence took the test anyway, there are people who will do that for you (illegally).

[Swizz69]

18 to 34 year olds?

Erm, Jeremy Kyle's guests?

[FatBat]

Back when I was learning to drive, the instructor said that insurance was not actually compulsory - if you could prove that you had a large enough pot of spare money to cover any claims that could be made against you, you didn't need insurance. In effect, you had insured yourself. Whetherthis is still the case, I don't know. I guess that the pot of cash would have to be very big - the claim against that chap who caused the Great Heck rail crash must have been huge - ten fatalities and two trains written off.

[[XAP]Bob]

Back when I was learning to drive, the instructor said that insurance was not actually compulsory - if you could prove that you had a large enough pot of spare money to cover any claims that could be made against you, you didn't need insurance. In effect, you had insured yourself. Whetherthis is still the case, I don't know. I guess that the pot of cash would have to be very big - the claim against that chap who caused the Great Heck rail crash must have been huge - ten fatalities and two trains written off.

You don't just have to have a big enough pot, I assume you could deposit said pot with an insurance company, they'll insure you for £10m with a £10m excess quite cheaply...

Or register as an insurance company - but that requires reinsurance...

[Tonyf33]

I'm not surprised at the figures to be honest, it doesn't say which cross section across the age range it is from. As for not having insurance directly through a normal insurer, theoretically possible over here but a bit of a long winded & risky way to cover yourself and third parties.

The state of California offers you the option of a surety bond, proof of cash deposit lodged with the DMV or self insured certificate as an alternative to std car insurance.

[sarahinaberdeen]

Perhaps it's something they should include in the driving test?.

It's in the theory test. But it depends on whether you pass it by chance or by studying and if you retain any of the information.