What DfT Plans for Uninsured Drivers Now Facing a £300 Fine and 6 Points

• The Department for Transport (DfT) has asked whether lying to get car insurance should bring penalty points and a driving ban. Today that offence carries neither.
• Driving without insurance currently costs a £300 fixed penalty and 6 points, or an unlimited fine, 6 to 8 points and possible disqualification if a court hears the case.
• The consultation ran for just over four months from 7 January 2026, and nothing in it has become law.

DfT Asks Whether Lying to Get Car Insurance Should Cost Points and a Licence

The Department for Transport has asked the public whether drivers who give false information to obtain car insurance should collect penalty points and risk losing their licence. At the moment, the offence of making a false declaration to obtain motor insurance carries neither of those penalties.

The question sits inside the department’s consultation on proposed changes to penalties for motoring offences. The consultation opened on 7 January 2026 and closed in the spring. The GOV.UK page lists it as a closed consultation, and no part of it has been turned into law.

No driver faces a new penalty today. What the document does show is where the Government thinks the current system falls short, and the figures it uses to describe the gap between insurance offences and other motoring crimes.

What the Law Says Today About Driving Without Insurance

The consultation runs to 41 numbered questions. Questions 1 to 16 cover drink and drug driving, questions 17 and 18 cover seat belts, and questions 19 to 24 cover failing to stop and report a collision. Questions 25 to 37 deal with what the department calls evasion of justice and financial obligations, which is where insurance, MOT and vehicle tax sit. Questions 38 and 39 cover unlicensed and uninsured driving, and questions 40 and 41 are general. The foreword records 1,602 deaths and 27,865 serious injuries on our roads in 2024.

Using a motor vehicle on a road or other public place without a valid insurance policy is an offence under section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. So is causing or permitting someone else to use a vehicle without cover. The legislation.gov.uk text of the section was recorded as up to date with all known changes on 20 October 2026.

The consultation sets out the penalties in plain terms. A driver caught without insurance can accept a fixed penalty of £300 with 6 penalty points. If the case goes to court instead, the punishment is an unlimited fine, between 6 and 8 penalty points and a possible driving disqualification.

The department questions whether that is enough. Its consultation says the fixed penalty and the points on the licence “do not reflect the seriousness of driving uninsured”. A short section of two main questions, numbers 38 and 39, covers unlicensed and uninsured driving together.

Unlicensed driving is treated separately. Driving without a licence, or not in accordance with one, currently brings a fine of up to £1,000, between 3 and 6 penalty points and a potential disqualification. For comparison, the consultation notes that the offence of driving while disqualified carries a maximum custodial sentence of 12 months.

The consultation also describes vehicle seizure as the penalty that already applies to driving with no insurance. It proposes looking at the same approach for other offences, including driving with no valid MOT or no vehicle tax. We covered that part of the document in our report on penalty points and car seizure for driving without a valid MOT.

The Gap DfT Sees in Penalties for False Insurance Declarations

The more specific question concerns people who give false information to get a policy in the first place. DfT sets out the current penalties for a false declaration to obtain motor insurance. In a magistrates’ court the maximum is six months in prison, a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or both. In the Crown Court the maximum is two years in prison, a fine, or both. If the case is brought under section 1 of the Fraud Act, the maximum sentence rises to 10 years.

The consultation then states what is missing: “there is no imposition of penalty points or potential disqualification”. Question 33 asks whether penalty points should be added for a false declaration to obtain motor insurance, and question 34 asks whether driving disqualification should be available.

The consultation puts the two offences side by side, and the gap is plain. A driver who is caught using a car with no insurance can receive a £300 fixed penalty and 6 points. A driver who lied on an application to get a policy can currently receive neither points nor a ban, whatever the prison and fine limits say.

Section 174 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 deals with false statements and withholding material information, including where the purpose is to obtain insurance documents. Its text on legislation.gov.uk was recorded as up to date on 6 October 2026. The consultation does not propose changing who commits the offence. It asks what should happen to the person who does.

How Prosecution Time Limits Could Change for Uninsured Driving

The consultation also looks at how long prosecutors have to bring a case. Under section 6 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, summary proceedings for the offences it covers can be brought within six months of the date on which evidence sufficient to warrant proceedings came to the prosecutor’s knowledge. The same section says no proceedings can be brought under it more than three years after the offence.

Question 37 asks whether the time limit should be extended to 18 months for unlicensed, uninsured or disqualified driving where death or serious injury occurred. The wider consultation makes the same point for failing to stop after a collision, which we cover in a separate report.

For most uninsured drivers the practical effect would be nil, as the proposal applies only where someone was killed or seriously injured. For those cases, an extra year would give police and prosecutors longer to identify the driver and confirm the missing cover.

Who Could Be Affected and What Drivers Should Do Now

Every car insurance application includes declarations about the driver, the address, the vehicle and how it is used, so the false declaration question reaches any driver who buys a policy. DfT’s wording is about a false declaration made to obtain insurance. The document does not describe an innocent mistake as the target.

Any new penalty points or disqualification for a false declaration would need a change to the law. The consultation page records no decision. It says a summary of responses, including the next steps, will be published within three months of the consultation closing.

The consultation is closed, so drivers cannot respond to it. Until the Government publishes its response and brings forward any legislation, the penalties DfT lists as current are the ones that apply: £300 and 6 points as a fixed penalty for no insurance, and the court limits described above.

The sensible step for any driver is to check that the details held by the insurer are accurate. That means the address where the car is kept, the main user, named drivers, how the car is used, any claims history and any convictions. If something has changed after the policy started, tell the insurer and get the change confirmed in writing.

Drivers who have bought a car and are unsure whether cover is in place should not drive it until the policy documents confirm cover. Under the penalties above, an uninsured trip can cost £300 and 6 points before any court action. We will report on DfT’s response when it appears. Our earlier report on the random breath tests and the 80mg drink drive limit covers another section of the same consultation.

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Sources:

• GOV.UK: Proposed changes to penalties for motoring offences
• legislation.gov.uk: Road Traffic Act 1988, section 143
• legislation.gov.uk: Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, section 6