What is an IN10 conviction?
IN10 is the endorsement code for using a vehicle while uninsured against third-party risks — the baseline legal requirement for driving in the UK. It's a strict-liability offence: it doesn't matter whether you knew the cover had lapsed, whether the car was borrowed, or whether you'd driven it insured for years before. If there was no valid policy at the moment you drove, the offence is complete.
That strictness is exactly why so many IN10s are administrative accidents — a failed payment that quietly cancelled the policy, a voided policy after a disclosure mistake, or the classic misunderstanding about whose insurance covers a borrowed car. The offence is the same either way.
What are the penalties for driving without insurance?
At the roadside: a £300 fixed penalty and six points, and the police can seize the car on the spot. If it goes to court instead, the fine is unlimited, the points run to eight, and disqualification is on the table. The points arriving with an IN10 also matter arithmetically — six to eight points is most of the way to a totting-up ban, and within two years of passing your test it revokes the licence entirely. The full breakdown, including what happens to the vehicle, is in our driving without insurance guide, and if your car was taken, impound insurance covers getting it back.
One to watch: the government's January 2026 road safety strategy consulted on tougher fixed penalties for several offences — including proposals widely reported to double the £300 uninsured-driving penalty. The consultation closed in May 2026 and no decision had been announced as of October 2026, so the figures above still apply. Our driving law guides cover penalties and codes across the board.
How long does an IN10 stay on your licence?
Four years — counted from the date of the offence, not the conviction, which is a small mercy unique to a handful of codes. Insurers, as ever, run a separate clock: their questions typically cover the last five years, and you must answer whatever period the question asks about honestly, even after the code has left your licence.
Why insurers treat IN10 so harshly
On pure claims statistics an IN10 isn't the most predictive code on the list — but insurance is a contract of trust, and IN10 is the one conviction that goes to the heart of it. To an underwriter it reads as someone who drove outside the system they're now asking to join, so many mainstream brands decline on principle rather than price. Don't take the declines as the market's verdict: they're one segment's policy, not the whole answer.
Getting covered with an IN10
The route back is the specialist convicted-driver market, where IN10s are routine business: declare the code accurately, get quotes from specialist insurers, and compare total cost rather than headline premium. Pair it with the honest cost levers — a low-group car, telematics, annual payment, patient no-claims rebuilding — and re-shop every renewal as the conviction fades. And keep the new policy watertight: set payments to never fail, and read any insurer letter the day it arrives. A second IN10 is the one thing that makes the first look cheap.