Car insurance rip off
Growing up in a farming community, one of the big events in my life was my 16th birthday. This would allow me to apply for my driving licence, which covered me to drive the tractor on the public roads. I could finally part-take in farming activities without having to get someone else to drive on the main roads. On my 17th birthday, I then upgraded the licence to a full driving licence, after I passing the test.
Fast forward to the present day, I have a spotless driving record (no points, no claims, no accidents) yet my insurance company keep hitting me with 20%+ hikes on my insurance premiums year by year. I got my renewal letter back in June and just couldn’t believe the price.
As I rarely use the car and it is kept on private property, I decided I would let the insurance lapse, as truth be told I just can’t afford the premium right now. Whilst trying to negotiate with the insurance company, they say that I am breaking the law by letting my insurance lapse, to which I was in total shock. If I am not driving the car and it is on private property, why do I need insurance? So I was told to look at the Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) regulations, which I had never heard of. I hopped on the internet to verify the law and sure enough they are correct!
Being in what I’m told is a democratic country and since I vote (7 times in the space of 3 years!) for people to represent me in the various levels of government. This means if I have any problems, I can contact my local representative and they have an obligation to try and help me. So I decided to contact my local government representative (MLA), but because Stormont can’t even agree to setup an executive and do the job they are being paid to do (ie govern) that was a non-starter. The next step up was to contact the local member of parliament. Recently that position swapped to a Sinn Fein MP who refuse to take their seats, so another non-starter. The next step up is my European representative (MEP) who I had a very interesting conversation with.
According to my MEP, these laws are to comply with the EU Motor Insurance Directive (MID). My MEP went on to say that the MID is being amended after the “Vnuk ruling” by the ECJ. I then took to the internet to find out more and the amendments appear to be totally insane!! They would apply to any “mechanically propelled” vehicle even on private land! This means that even the likes of antique tractors, farm bikes (trikes, quads, etc), even mobility scooters, segways, and dodgem cars would be in the scope of this new directive. Also, uninsured drivers who are involved in an accident can make a claim for compensation! [1]
To make it even more absurd, should the European Commission amend this directive and it gets passed into member states laws, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it! To quote the Borg, “you must comply resistance is futile”
[1] – http://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/uk/news/breaking-news/uninsured-drivers-to-get-compensation-under-new-eu-rule-42547.aspx
