Uninsured cars worth £67m including LAMBORGHINI Aventador saved from crushing last year
Uninsured cars worth a total of £67m were saved from crushing in 2015 and returned to their legal owners.
The uninsured cars have been returned to their legal owners
The value of the cars saved last year increased from the 2014 total of £56m, which suggests that the number of cars that are being driven illegally on the UK’s roads is on the rise.
Police seized thousands of cars bought on finance or leased after their drivers were caught without insurance.
These uninsured vehicles could have been returned to the road, sold at auction or even scrapped, but were reunited with their legal owners under the HPI CrushWatch scheme.
The most expensive car seized was a Lamborghini Aventador
HPI CrushWatch, which is able check a vehicle’s history, works with the Finance & Leasing Association’s (FLA) Vehicle Recovery Scheme and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and helps identifying if vehicles confiscated from uninsured drivers belong to a finance house.
Before the introduction of the scheme, vehicles would have been disposed of without the knowledge of finance houses.
The top five models most commonly recovered were the Vauxhall Astra, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Corsa, BMW 3 Series and Volkswagen Golf, with over 2,000 of these vehicles avoiding being scrapped.
However, there are numerous instances of supercar buyers driving without valid insurance.
The most commonly recovered car was a Vauxhall Astra
In the top 10 most valuable cars seized last year, there were five Lamborghinis, three Ferraris, a Bentley and a Mercedes-AMG GT.
The Metropolitan Police was the force with the highest value of recoveries, with its £26,795,500 worth of assets more than six times greater than the constabulary with the next greatest total, Police Scotland (with £4,025,735-worth of seizures).
Terry Hunt, director of the Metropolitan Police’s Frontline Services said: “By clamping down on uninsured drivers, we are not only protecting legitimate motorists from the trauma of being involved in an accident with someone who won’t be able to provide any financial recompense, we are closing the net on organised criminals by denying them use of the road.”
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The cars could have been returned to the road, sold at auction or even scrapped
In the top 10 most valuable cars seized last year, there were five Lamborghinis, three Ferraris, a Bentley and a Mercedes-AMG GT.
The Metropolitan Police was the force with the highest value of recoveries, with its £26,795,500 worth of assets more than six times greater than the constabulary with the next greatest total, Police Scotland (with £4,025,735-worth of seizures).
Terry Hunt, director of the Metropolitan Police’s Frontline Services said: “By clamping down on uninsured drivers, we are not only protecting legitimate motorists from the trauma of being involved in an accident with someone who won’t be able to provide any financial recompense, we are closing the net on organised criminals by denying them use of the road.”
The Met Police had the highest value of recoveries
Top 10 most valuable cars seized in 2015
1. Lamborghini Aventador – £240,000
2. Lamborghini Aventador – £208,000
3. Lamborghini Huracan LP – £166,600
4. Ferrari 458 Italia – £150,900
5. Ferrari F12 Berlinetta – £150,300
6. Lamborghini Huracan – £149,400
7. Ferrari 458 Spider – £136,500
8. Bentley Flying Spur – £130,000
9. Lamborghini Gallardo – £120,000
10. Mercedes-AMG GT – £113,300
Top 10 most commonly recovered cars
1. Vauxhall Astra (589)
2. Ford Focus (462)
3. Vauxhall Corsa (349)
4. BMW 3 Series (335)
5. Volkswagen Golf (331)
6. Mercedes-Benz C-Class (309)
7. BMW 1 Series (307)
8. Ford Fiesta (268)
9. Vauxhall Vectra (202)
10. Audi A3 (178)