Driving uninsured can have severe consequences that will stay with you year-after-year, including:

• £300 fine
• Six points on your licence
• Vehicle seized and potentially crushed
• Court referral, resulting in an unlimited fine and a driving ban
• Driving convictions can show in background checks, impacting job prospects

Unfortunately, there are a number of common insurance pitfalls that even the most conscientious driver can fall foul of, so it's important to regularly check you're carrying the right level of insurance cover for your needs.

Sometimes, people mistakenly drive without the correct cover and can face crushing consequences - literally! You could be driving without valid insurance if you have...

• Forgotten when your insurance expires.
• Assumed your insurance auto-renews.
• Not realised a payment method has expired.
• Decided to keep a vehicle off-the-road without insurance but not declared it SORN to DVLA.
• Assumed fully-comprehensive cover allows you to drive someone else's vehicle.
• Driven with the wrong class-of-use, such as delivering pizzas on a social, domestic and pleasure (SDP) policy.
• Bought fake car insurance on social media, in a scam widely known as Ghost Broking.
• Been a named driver on a vehicle that you actually own and are the main driver of, to save money. This is technically a type of fraud known as Fronting.
• Used a private e-scooter in public areas (only local authority-operated e-scooters are legal on public roads and spaces).

Use our Check Your Vehicle service, the new home of the Motor Insurance Database.