As a car driver you really should know about a handy website called AskMID.
You’ll probably already know that there’s a central database the Police have access to that contains the insurance details of all the cars on the UK roads. The database is known simply as the Motor Insurance Database (MID), and now you can check to see if your car is recorded on there.
AskMID Gives You Peace Of Mind
By going to the AskMID website you can key in your registration number and get a simple answer. Yes, your car is on the database and you’re fine or No, it isn’t on the database. If the answer is No then you are either uninsured, your insurer hasn’t submitted your details to the MID or they’ve passed on incorrect details. If this is the case you’re at risk of having your car crushed if you can’t prove that you really are insured.
If you haven’t got any insurance then either buy some now or stop driving. Simple as that. If you can’t afford the insurance and decide to the proper thing by not driving anymore then you also need to declare your vehicle as SORN, or else you may find a fine arriving in the post from the DVLA.
If you are insured but your vehicle does not appear on AskMID then the first thing you should do is check your policy documents. Is the registration number correct? It’s possible that the person on the other end of the phone misheard your registration or simply typed it into the computer incorrectly. Get on the phone to your insurers straight away to correct any errors and ask them to update the MID. They should be able to sort that out for you.
There is one other possible result – your registration number is in the system but the vehicle description is incorrect. Again, this is a case where you should contact your insurance company and ask them to submit your car details back into the MID. If not, you could find yourself being pulled over and quizzed by the police as they will get different car details if they check your registration.
Askmid Helps If You’ve Had An Accident
Another service that AskMID offers is the ability to check the insurance details of someone else’s car. Why would you want to do this? If you were involved in an accident and didn’t think the other driver was insured you could double check the details they gave you. Just be aware that there is a fee and requests are processed manually, so make sure you genuinely need the information before you try it.
Go on, head on over to AskMID and check your car, it’s free and it only takes a minute.