AskMid

[cpjitservices]

Hi all,

Wondering how long it takes for AskMid to update ?

Changed cars on Thursday - Insurance policy updated immediately. Have received certificate.

Askmid reports my car as not showing on the database.


Is this something the police use for ANPR ?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

AskMID is a real time reflection of the MID database. So your car isn't on there yet and yes, that's what the police use.

But the database is just that, a database. It's not the be all and end all. Just carry your cert with you until it gets updated, which should be any time now.

[Mammasaid]

http://stayinsured.askmid.com/FAQs.html

If you have recently taken out a new policy, please try again in a few days to allow time for the new policy to reach the MID.

[cpjitservices]

Its not a new policy per se, just a change of vehicle.

Thanks dudes, I'll keep my eye on it.

[TooMany2cvs]

cpjitservices said:

Its not a new policy per se, just a change of vehicle.

So, as far as the MID entry goes, it's new.

AB12CDE was not insured. Now it's insured.
Insurer needs to update database.

[cpjitservices]

TooMany2cvs said:

So, as far as the MID entry goes, it's new.

AB12CDE was not insured. Now it's insured.
Insurer needs to update database.

Yes never thought of it like that.

Hopefully it will update soon, certificate in car just in case.

[WatchfulEye]

cpjitservices said:

Hi all,
Wondering how long it takes for AskMid to update ?

Took 10 days when I changed my car last year.
Coincidentally, I had 10 days to run on the policy when I changed the car, and the update on askmid came on the same day as the renewal policy commenced.

[sim72]

The insurance on my new snotter (picked up 28 January) still isn't on AskMid. I've got the certificate in the car just in case.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

sim72 said:

The insurance on my new snotter (picked up 28 January) still isn't on AskMid. I've got the certificate in the car just in case.

Get on to your insurer, that's well beyond the normal timescales.

[WillG]

Certificates mean almost nothing to Police now, they take the mid (wrongly) as gospel, so if you're not on there, and they can't confirm with your insurers by phone, it doesn't matter if you have the CEO of your insurers in the car, your almost certainly getting impounded.

[sim72]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

sim72 said:

The insurance on my new snotter (picked up 28 January) still isn't on AskMid. I've got the certificate in the car just in case.

Get on to your insurer, that's well beyond the normal timescales.

And as if by magic, it's just appeared tonight (I last checked last night). 16 days is a bit crap though. When I last changed it (same insurer and everything) it appeared within 3-4 days.

[wilwak]

Surely it’s not beyond modern technology to get these databases updated more quickly especially when the police ANPR systems use them.

I took out a new insurance policy on Monday and started it immediately as I wasn’t sure what day this week I was collecting the car.

Yesterday morning I collected the car and taxed it online at the dealers.

This morning on checking the databases it is still showing as not insured and not taxed.

Ok so I can carry proof with me but I really don’t want to be travelling along the motorway in the pouring rain and get pulled over. No fun at all and it would delay me.

Also, how much police time is wasted making such stops?

Surely daily overnight updates should be possible?

[S11Steve]

wilwak said:

Surely it’s not beyond modern technology to get these databases updated more quickly especially when the police ANPR systems use them.

Surely daily overnight updates should be possible?

Technology is there to provide instant updates, let alone overnight batch runs.

The system we use at work allows us to updated the MID direct, but it's quite labour intensive and has to use a specific computer with a digital certificate. And it wasn't cheap to get that access which is likely where the problem lies - we also have to have people trained, more for accountability than just ability to type in a reg on a screen.

The red-tape behind the scenes is why most insurance companies will do weekly or twice weekly batch updates. So yes, carry a cert in the car for the first few days.

Old school, but it works if you get stopped. Given how many non-insurance calls I used to handle from various police forces, to what we get now, it's clear that they do stop a lot of vehicles within the first few days of a policy going live.

[Adrian E]

As above, anything can be done to make a system effectively 'real time' but the question is whether having that facility is worth the vast cost of providing it vs the alternative of picking up the phone for anyone in an official capacity wanting to check and/or allowing the database to update on a natural update cycle that works for data entry and user purposes. Granted at 10pm that might be more than a mild inconvenience if it doesn't happen, but for the vast majority it'll be fine.....

[Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah]

Based on my own experience this week - when my insurers made an update it didn't show on MID the same day, yet it did the next.

[wilwak]

I’m avoiding using it which is very frustrating.

I’ve never been pulled over by the police and don’t want to start now!

Hopefully it’ll update tonight.

[Cliftonite]

WillG said:

Certificates mean almost nothing to Police now, they take the mid (wrongly) as gospel, so if you're not on there, and they can't confirm with your insurers by phone, it doesn't matter if you have the CEO of your insurers in the car, your almost certainly getting impounded.

A valid insurance certificate MUST be accepted by the police as evidence of cover. It's the law, innit?

IANAL.

[TooMany2cvs]

Cliftonite said:

A valid insurance certificate MUST be accepted by the police as evidence of cover. It's the law, innit?

Without reference to the insurer, how does he know it IS valid?

[anonymous-user]

We do ours as a batch overnight, as do many insurers.

I can check on Monday but I think the service standard is 7 days, reduced recently from 14. I may have that wrong though and the 7 days may be a commercial term we have.

There are some pretty big penalties for companies that fail.

If you have a certificate with you and the Police aren't happy insist that they call the insurer, which they can do.

[300bhp/ton]

Don’t know the truth of this. But I phoned crimestoppers to report and uninsured car recently. They told me they nor the Police would be interested as not all insurers use the MID.