Is Big Brother watching you, Lets hope so!

Hi Guys,

You've all seen the police reality shows, Police Camera Action, Road Cops, Interceptor Force etc and so you will have watched the police follow a car or a mobile detection unit clock a car and it gets pulled in a couple of hundred yards down the road for having no tax or insurance. They do this using vehicle recognition software or the Motor Insurers Database. (VNPC & MID) You have probably also seen them impound a car, tow it away and in the worst cases the car gets crushed.

The way this works is that ALL insurers have to supply details of new insurance polices to the central database within 7 days of a policy being taken out, the same goes for tax. They also have to advise the data base when a policy expires or gets cancelled or when you change your car. (You can no longer take a policy out, get a certificate and cancel/default the direct debit and hope to get a way with it.)

But........ whilst the system works well, it is not 100% accurate, especially in the case of Classic Car Insurance. Most insurance is processed electronically these days over the internet or on bespoke insurance computer systems, classic car insurance lags behind a bit on this and a good number of cases are still written manually. Even on ordinary cars there are cases when the information sent electronically to the data base gets lost, or DVLA scramble it or the cleaner pulls the plug out of the computer.

You can now check free of charge to make sure that your car is on the data base. Go to http://askmid.com type in your registration number and confirm it is your car and it will tell you straight away if your car is on the data base. This is worth doing 10 days or so after you have taken out a new policy or changed the car etc just to save any embarrasing moments trying to prove to Mr Plod that you are indeed one of the good guys. If its not on the system and it should be, bend the ear of the insurance company/broker involved. (If it's me be gentle!)

Is the other guy insured?
There is also a very useful feature to check to see if someone else is insured if you have had an accident. You have to pay a one off search fee of £3.50 curently. If the vehicle appears on the MID, you will get the policy number, insurer of the other vehicle and a claims contact number to help you progress a claim with the insurer. If you have the internet on your mobile phone do it at the scene of the accident, if they are not insured call the police tell them they are not insured and insist they come out to the accident. Same website applies, http://askmid.com

I'm not totally in favour of big brother, but on this one I'm all for it, I pay my insurances so why should someone else get away with it and crash into me uninsured................

• uninsured driving costs the UK about £500 million
  
• more than 20,000 people are injured in accidents involving uninsured and untraced drivers
  
• £30 is added to every insurance premium to pay for the cost of uninsured drivers.
  
  Happy motoring
  
  
  Kim
  The Insurance Man
  

If you have any insurance queries / problems or things you want to check out just post them on the site in the insurance section and I will try to answer your questions.

Thanks for this Kim,very interesting, I've checked ...and it works - mine is on the database and is insured, glad to know I'm all 'present and correct!'
All the best, Tim.

Sure works ... my old registration is no longer on the database whereas my new one is
Handy website for exactly the reasons stated above, thanks Kim.

Chris


Why is your old car not on, was it scrapped or is it just not on the road Sorn etc?

kIM

Atthelimit wrote:Why is your old car not on, was it scrapped or is it just not on the road Sorn etc?

No I mean I had my personalised plate for Christmas so the old one was lost to the DVLA ... M100 CPJ is indeed registered to my car and M245 SUY doesn't show on their database. I have lost one car though, a superb Proton GTI ... to several trees ... ohhh the bad times.

Trigger wrote: I have lost one car though, a superb Proton GTI ... to several trees ... ohhh the bad times.

Hi Chris,
Sorry to hear about that, guess you are ok though as you continue to post. Was it your fault or the trees?
But seriously though if you are claiming against someone else or just "negotiating" with your insurers and you need any help just give me a call or send me a PM.

Kim

Atthelimit wrote:

Trigger wrote: I have lost one car though, a superb Proton GTI ... to several trees ... ohhh the bad times.

Hi Chris,
Sorry to hear about that, guess you are ok though as you continue to post. Was it your fault or the trees?
But seriously though if you are claiming against someone else or just "negotiating" with your insurers and you need any help just give me a call or send me a PM.

Kim

I will put you top of my list in the phone book lol ... No this was before the Lotus saga some 18 months ago now. Is that a top tip to blame a claim on the scenery