Are you up to speed with The Motor Insurance Database?
The Motor Insurance Database was created in 2003 to help reduce the number of uninsured vehicles on our roads. The aim is to get all insured vehicles entered onto this database enabling police to check vehicles and prosecute people driving without insurance. The police have embraced this opportunity to help them win the battle against uninsured drivers and make over 2 million enquiries a month on the MID.
Insurers will always submit vehicles to the MID in the case of individuals insuring for their own use. However, problems can occur when businesses have a fleet policy covering a number of vehicles which may change on a regular basis. If you manage a fleet of vehicles, the onus is on you to update the database with any changes as soon as possible. This includes adding new vehicles and removing ones that have been sold or declared off road.
What can go wrong if you don’t update the MID?
Drivers of your vehicles can start to get regularly pulled over by the police costing you time and money. Increased us of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) by police has led to a rise in vehicles not appearing on the MID being routinely stopped for questioning.
Failure to remove vehicles could see you being contacted about insurance claims that are nothing to do with you. Finally persistent failure to update the MID could see you prosecuted and fined up to £5,000.
What do I need to do now?
If you are unsure as to whether the vehicles in your fleet have been registered on the database, go to www.askmid.com . Simply enter the registrations of your vehicles and it will tell you whether they are on the database or not. If all your vehicles are on the database (including temporary vehicles in your possession for longer than 14 days) then you need to take no further action.
If there are vehicles covered by your motor fleet policy that are not on the MID then you need to take action now! When we arranged the policy for you it is most likely that your insurer provided you with a link to an online portal allowing you to update your vehicle details online. Use the link and the login details provided to update the vehicles in your fleet.
If you can’t find a link from your insurer and you have not updated the MID for a while contact us and we will investigate this for you.
Hopefully all your vehicles are registered on the MID and you have a process in place to ensure all new vehicles are added as soon as they arrive with you. If this is not the case, then please give us a call on 01527 857611 for assistance.