Police Insurance Database Wrong
Police Insurance Database Wrong
Author
Discussion

gt40steve

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

128 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Morning all,

Has anyone else had an experience like this ?

Pulled over for a random 'drink & drugs' check when leaving the Goodwood Members Meeting.

No problem there but then the officer asked, to my surprise, do you still work sir ? (didn't think I looked that bleeding old !) = Yes
He then said you are not insured for commuting. He showed me his I Pad which read 'S, D & P'
I told him I am covered for commuting, it's on all my paperwork (at home). I said I will be making an angry call to my insurance company tomorrow, he replied well it's not an issue today anyway it's Sunday evening and you're obviously not going to work now.

As expected when I called my insurance company they confirmed that all of our cars are covered for commuting. The person that I spoke to hadn't encountered this issue before and offered to send duplicate certificates to keep in the glove boxes. They didn't propose a 'solution' to the root of the problem.

Looking at AskMid etc., all I can see is insured? Yes or No. I can't access the full coverage details like the Police seem to be able to. I wasn't aware that they could do this.

So bottom line is, a communication breakdown or human error. Just wondering if others have had similar incidents. Glad I didn't have the check on a work day.


Jamescrs

5,987 posts

89 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Police get their data regarding Motor Insurance from the MIB so if there is an issue its between the insurer and the MIB database. The MIB database feeds in to the Police National Computer.

Maybe make a query with the MIB


Red9zero

10,615 posts

81 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Could well be user error. My wife got pulled over a while back and the Police officer said she wasn't named on the insurance for our car that she was driving. He also checked my Land Rover that she is named on and said that wasn't insured at all. Her DoB was also showing on his system as 2000, which he said it obviously wasn't (that went down well laugh). He let her go, obviously realising there was an error, and we checked everything when she got home to find that as I thought, she was insured on everything.

carl_w

10,513 posts

282 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Bit of an odd question. Not everyone who works uses their car to commute.

alscar

8,349 posts

237 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Were you in a van - notwithstanding your user name ?! smile
Not all Insurers include commuting ( to either one place of work or say a train station ) as standard as some have the +C added to SDP but there are clearly others that do although the Certificate should make the distinction anyway ?
It does indeed sound an odd thing to say from the PO especially given the day though.


Bigends

6,035 posts

152 months

Thursday
quotequote all
There have been a few similar thread in the past..keep a paper copy of your insurance cert in the car and produce it if there any queries over cover

Terminator X

19,775 posts

228 months

Thursday
quotequote all
carl_w said:
Bit of an odd question. Not everyone who works uses their car to commute.
Yeah, why even ask considering it wasn't even a work day.

TX.

Red9zero

10,615 posts

81 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Terminator X said:
carl_w said:
Bit of an odd question. Not everyone who works uses their car to commute.
Yeah, why even ask considering it wasn't even a work day.

TX.
Might have been working at Goodwood wink In my example upthread my wife was stopped at 02.00 on a Sunday for driving at 35 in a 40. As it was so late and she was driving so carefully, they assumed she was drunk laugh

alscar

8,349 posts

237 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Bigends said:
There have been a few similar thread in the past..keep a paper copy of your insurance cert in the car and produce it if there any queries over cover
Or on your phone.

paul_c123

1,998 posts

17 months

Thursday
quotequote all
alscar said:
Or on your phone.
And carry a (charged) power bank and cable.

Rh14n

1,071 posts

132 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Bigends said:
There have been a few similar thread in the past..keep a paper copy of your insurance cert in the car and produce it if there any queries over cover
Doesn't always prove anything. People have been known to insure their car, receive and keep the paper documents and then cancel the insurance. They have then tried to show these documents to Police to try and persuade them that they are insured when they are not.

Bigends

6,035 posts

152 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Rh14n said:
Bigends said:
There have been a few similar thread in the past..keep a paper copy of your insurance cert in the car and produce it if there any queries over cover
Doesn't always prove anything. People have been known to insure their car, receive and keep the paper documents and then cancel the insurance. They have then tried to show these documents to Police to try and persuade them that they are insured when they are not.
This will be in addition to a MID record in case theres any discrepancy between the two.
Its perfectly fine under the Road Traffic act to produce a legible, printed copy of the Insurance Certificate, if not accepted, it'll be down to the officer to articulate their reasons for not doing so.

alscar

8,349 posts

237 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Bigends said:
This will be in addition to a MID record in case theres any discrepancy between the two.
Its perfectly fine under the Road Traffic act to produce a legible, printed copy of the Insurance Certificate, if not accepted, it'll be down to the officer to articulate their reasons for not doing so.
Yup. It will also help pass the attitude test.
My phone has the email from my broker to which the certificates are attached.
Probably overkill but I’d rather have and not need rather than the other way round.

Foss62

1,793 posts

89 months

Thursday
quotequote all
This seems a bit of a strange one to me. If a driver can prove that they have an existing policy with an insurer, then AIUI that insurer is on the hook for third party risks anyway (even if they subsequently reclaim the money from their policyholder).

As many threads on here have shown, policyholders and insurers can have disagreements about definitions (commuting, modifications etc.) with individual legal cases having gone both ways.

That being the case, I would have thought that the Police would concentrate on the definitely uninsured, rather than worrying about whether a driver was strictly adhering to (the sometimes esoteric) terms of their policy. This, particularly in the context of the many often surprising areas that they consider ‘civil disputes’ and thus not of interest to them.

119

17,578 posts

60 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Everything should be on the policy documents you were sent or emailed surely?

gt40steve

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

128 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Jamescrs said:
Police get their data regarding Motor Insurance from the MIB so if there is an issue its between the insurer and the MIB database. The MIB database feeds in to the Police National Computer.

Maybe make a query with the MIB
Thank you.

I've found a limited faq section on mib-org.uk
There's not any check we can do other than the basic 'Insured - Yes or No'.
You can request a 'Data Subject Access Request' which they should respond to in thirty days. Seems a bit of a hassle if I want to check all four of our vehicles.
Anyway it would seem logical & simpler, that I would need to speak to my insurance company again and request that they send my full details to MIB / Navigate

FYI from the website.

What is Navigate?
Navigate is the MIB's data platform that contains billions of data records from the former MID (Motor Insurance Database). It contains the insurance policy details of all insured UK vehicles. It is accessed by different people, in different ways, for different purposes.

Navigate is the central record of motor insurance policy information for all insured vehicles in the UK.

All insurers who underwrite motor insurance for vehicles on UK roads are obliged to be members of the MIB and to submit the policy details of ALL vehicles to Navigate.

The process of getting the information into Navigate is managed by MIB but the data is loaded directly by the insurers and their representatives.

Updates are made to the data platform around the clock, every day of the year. Insurance companies and those acting on their behalf endeavour to get data about new policies and revisions to existing policies to Navigate as soon as they can. However, policy information cannot always be updated to the platform immediately.

There are targets for insurance companies to get their data onto Navigate in a timely and accurate manner.

Insurers can be financially penalised if their data does not reach Navigate within timescales set by the Department for Transport (DfT)..



JohnnyUK

1,053 posts

102 months

Thursday
quotequote all
The PoPo should be checking the Amazon, Evri and Takeaway drivers - I can almost guarantee that they will not be insured for how they use their vehicles.

gt40steve

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

128 months

Thursday
quotequote all
alscar said:
Were you in a van - notwithstanding your user name ?! smile
Not all Insurers include commuting ( to either one place of work or say a train station ) as standard as some have the +C added to SDP but there are clearly others that do although the Certificate should make the distinction anyway ?
It does indeed sound an odd thing to say from the PO especially given the day though.
Thanks.

Focus RS.
My schedule & certificate both state S,D,P, Commuting & Voluntary Use. Didn't have a copy in the car, do now !
Must say PC was pleasant enough and didn't even bother with the drink & drugs test.


gt40steve

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

128 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Bigends said:
There have been a few similar thread in the past..keep a paper copy of your insurance cert in the car and produce it if there any queries over cover
Thanks, will do.

gt40steve

Original Poster:

1,279 posts

128 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Red9zero said:
Terminator X said:
carl_w said:
Bit of an odd question. Not everyone who works uses their car to commute.
Yeah, why even ask considering it wasn't even a work day.

TX.
Might have been working at Goodwood wink In my example upthread my wife was stopped at 02.00 on a Sunday for driving at 35 in a 40. As it was so late and she was driving so carefully, they assumed she was drunk laugh
Thanks for your contributions gentlemen.
No not working, in my Focus at 7.45 after the 83MM prize giving.
Lots of Police and marked cars outside the Rolls Royce visitor entrance pulling over random cars as we all left the event.

I guess the commuting question is a fallback one, which I suppose a lot people are caught out by.