Police ANPR checks and MID Insurance Database

[slow_1]

Hi, I've just purchased a new car and it went on insurance cover with Admiral from yesterday.

I just checked the MID insurance database and its reporting the car as not on cover despite me already having received the certificate of insurance!

Rang Admiral who confirmed it is indeed on cover and that it takes 7-10 days for the MID database to be updated which I find hard to believe.

Surely this must mean loads of drivers who have valid / recent insurance are being stopped by the police operating the ANPR camera checks which is not only a waste of time for the drivers but also for the police?

Can anybody confirm that it is correct that the MID insurance database does take 7-10 days to get updated?

Thanks.

[Dizeee]

It takes 24 hours for the MID to be updated and insurers are legally obliged to ensure it is updated.

However, as with all these departments, as they only work 9 -5 Monday to Friday, you run the risk of being stopped and going through a load of grief at the roadside in order to try and verify the insurance details. Companies don't seem to realise that the majority of stops fall outside office hours, and so consequently alot of time and paper is wasted outside these times.

[Slurms]

Yeah it can take a couple of days if you get unlucky, I tend to make sure I've got my covernote in the car for the first week or so just in case.

[SVTRick]

I believe the police can call and check if your insured even if not on MID
Well they seem to do that on some of the PCA programes anyway.

[Steffan]

Been stopped three times because car not on insurance database.

Each time police actually rang database and played merry hell with the operators. I change cars frequently but always inform the insurers.

They certainly do not always tell the database but they do send me cover notes every time so I can show these to the police.

I suggest you try a website at http://ownvehicle.askmid.com/. ITS FREE

If your car is not on here its not on the database and you stand every chance of being pulled.

At least you will then know and can play up with your insurers.

[slow_1]

Hi, Yes it was the MID Insurance database I checked. What annoys me is that I informed Admiral Insurance on Tuesday afternoon of the details of my new car and that it was to go on cover from midnight Saturday so they have had ample time to update the database and yet it still not showing as being on cover!

Steffan said:

Been stopped three times because car not on insurance database.

Each time police actually rang database and played merry hell with the operators. I change cars frequently but always inform the insurers.

They certainly do not always tell the database but they do send me cover notes every time so I can show these to the police.

I suggest you try a website at http://ownvehicle.askmid.com/. ITS FREE

If your car is not on here its not on the database and you stand every chance of being pulled.

At least you will then know and can play up with your insurers.

[Deva Link]

slow_1 said:

Hi, Yes it was the MID Insurance database I checked. What annoys me is that I informed Admiral Insurance on Tuesday afternoon of the details of my new car and that it was to go on cover from midnight Saturday so they have had ample time to update the database and yet it still not showing as being on cover!

I don't think it can be done in advance like that.

By the way, very technically you're not insured until you've got the cover note in your hand. And check it carefully. I moved my daughter's car to a new insurer (one regarded as good) a few months ago and they issued a policy dated for the previous year. First we knew was a warning letter saying it had expired!

[Steffan]

Deva Link said:

I don't think it can be done in advance like that.

By the way, very technically you're not insured until you've got the cover note in your hand. And check it carefully. I moved my daughter's car to a new insurer (one regarded as good) a few months ago and they issued a policy dated for the previous year. First we knew was a warning letter saying it had expired!

I think that you would be insured under almost any circumstances PROVIDING you have offered "uberrimae fidei" or Utmost Faith in agreeing your terms with the insurers.

A typing error or mistake on the cover note would NOT invalidate the insurance. The clerical error would be seen as such.

However I do agree its worth checking the details upon receipt.

But it is common practice for details to be offered and accepted without written confirmation over the phone. This method is used by thousands of customers every day. A clerical error would not invalidate the insurance policy.

[Deva Link]

Steffan said:

I think that you would be insured under almost any circumstances PROVIDING you have offered "uberrimae fidei" or Utmost Faith in agreeing your terms with the insurers.

A typing error or mistake on the cover note would NOT invalidate the insurance. The clerical error would be seen as such.

However I do agree its worth checking the details upon receipt.

But it is common practice for details to be offered and accepted without written confirmation over the phone. This method is used by thousands of customers every day. A clerical error would not invalidate the insurance policy.

I think the issue is the definition of "be insured".

The bit about the insurance not being in force until the certificate has been delivered is in the Road Traffic Act.

In our case, they did agree that they would have been held liable, and I have no doubt that in the event of a suitably serious accident of the sort where no stone is left unturned, then that would be the case. But apparently that's not the same as being insured.

So I have great concern that in the event of being pinged by ANPR it could be an awfully lot more difficult to get off a no insurance charge. Indeed there's someone on here who got convicted for no insurance recently after a clerical error admitted by the insurance company.

The insurance company seemed to think that she had benefited from a few days "free" insurance (as the correctly dated policy couldn't be backdated) and they did renew at the premium quoted so at last years price. I wouldn't mind but we'd queried this point when we called to buy the insurance - I couldn't understand why is was 20% cheaper than the online quote!

[Dizeee]

SVTRick said:

I believe the police can call and check if your insured even if not on MID
Well they seem to do that on some of the PCA programes anyway.

Only between office hours.

[slow_1]

Just checked and still my car is not shown as having valid insurance in the MID - am I therefore correct to assume that if I get stopped in the evening (when the insurance companies are closed) then I will risk getting my car impounded? I currently carry the insurance certificate but obviously the police could assume that I've taken the insurance out and then cancelled out again (this seems to be a common trick some people on the police TV programmes try to use)! I just find it so annoying that a simple database can't be updated immediately by the insurance company especially when it can cause me so many problems if I get stopped!

I think the MID is a fabulous tool for getting all the uninsured drivers off the road but unfortuantely its only as good as the (lack of) information put on to it!

Dizeee said:

Only between office hours.

[Dizeee]

slow_1 said:

Unlikely to get impounded as you have done all you can do to show you have insurance. The worst you should get would be a 'ticket producer' - basiclly a producer written on a no insurance ticket, so that if you produce correctly the ticket can be cancelled and if it transpires you don't have insurance the ticket continues and you get the £200 and 6 points e.t.c.

[SVTRick]

Dizeee said:

if it transpires you don't have insurance the ticket continues and you get the £200 and 6 points e.t.c.

Take Him/Her down .........................

[slow_1]

Just checked and still not showing as insured on the database - luckily I have not yet been stopped! If I'm not shown as insured on the MID tomorrow morning then I think its going to be another call to Admirial!