Drivers Breaking Law Due To Lack Of Funds

New research by the UK’s leading discount website surrounding the financial upkeep of vehicles has revealed that a large number of Britons have broken the law in the past due to not being able to afford certain maintenance bills or legal requirements.

It would seem that not all Britons are always on the right side of the law when it comes to driving, as a new poll by the UK’s leading discount and voucher code website has revealed that a large number fail to meet certain deadlines, like MOT and Tax Disc renewals, due to financial constraints.

The study was conducted by www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, which the site carried out as part of research into the costs involved in driving. 1,927 UK drivers over the age of 18 were polled in the study and respondents were asked questions surrounding the outgoings they had related to their vehicle.

When asked, ‘Are you ever late to renew the tax disc on your vehicle?’ 42% admitted that they were. To find out if any of these respondents were potentially breaking the law by leaving it late, MyVoucherCodes.co.uk asked if they still drove their vehicle anyway, whilst they didn’t have a valid tax disc. The majority, 63%, said that they did.

The people polled were then asked ‘Are you ever late to get your vehicle MOT’d by the expiry date on your previous MOT certificate?’  More than half, 51%, admitted that they were and when asked if they drove their car regardless of this in the meantime, 72% of these said they did.

The study also looked at car insurance policies and aimed to find out if anyone was ever late renewing their own policy. 29% said they had been in the past and two fifths, 39%, of these had still driven around without insurance until they go round to renewing their policy.

The total respondents who admitted that they had been late in either renewing their MOT, tax disc or car insurance were asked to give reasons as to why this was the case and were told to select all that applied from a list of possible answers.

According to the study, the top reasons were as follows:

1. Not enough money at the time          61%
2. Forgot to do so                                    58%
3. Didn’t get round to it                          42%
4. Couldn’t be bothered                          23%
5. Didn’t know it was time to do so        17%

Respondents were also asked if they had ever not bought new tyres for their vehicle when they knew it was probably a legal requirement to do so. Three quarters, 74%, admitted this had been the case in the past.

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, commented on the findings:

“Making sure you have all the legal documents needed to be able to drive your vehicle is very important and people who are leaving it late and still driving round could face fines, or worse. I was surprised that so many had left things late due to a lack of money, but then again, keeping a car is expensive business.

There are things consumers can do to cut the cost of their vehicle bills. Shopping around for insurance is important, so never sign up for the first price you find. Also, we have many discounts available on site for things like half price MOTs and money-off at car garages which can be used to really bring the maintenance costs down.

LINK http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk

ENDS

For more information, contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis Public Relations Agency on shannon@10yetis.co.uk or 01452 348211.

Editor’s Notes

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 30, his personal worth is more than £30 million. Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.

Mark appeared as a ‘Secret Millionaire’ in the series on Channel 4, in which he donated £115,000 of his own money to worthy causes.

MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year