Is Your Vehicle on the Motor Insurance Data Database?  Here's How to Find Out.

From early 2011, a new law gives the DVLA more power to combat keepers of vehicles that are not insured.  Whilst the law has been active for a few months now, we thought we would give you a reminder of just what it entails and what you should do, to make sure you don’t fall foul of the legislation.

Basically, the law says there are two options.

1) You insure your vehicle

2) You swear a S.O.R.N. (statutory off road notice)

3) There is no third option

If you fail to comply with these regulations, there can be a fixed penalty of £100, or have your vehicle clamped, seized and disposed of and you may face a court prosecution with a maximum fine of £1000. 

When you insure your vehicle, your insurers should register the fact it is insured on the MID (Motor Insurance Data Base).  However it would appear that this isn’t always the case and many of you might have seen these fly on the wall police documentaries where drivers are pulled up and at the point they are stopped, it appears they are not insured (even though they might be) because the vehicle is not listed on the MID.  Unless the driver can prove “there and then” the vehicle is insured, the police will impound the vehicle and there have been awful stories that have followed on from that.

So its crucially important that you check your vehicle is on the MID and you can do that easily by going to the MID website, its free and its easy, simply type your registration number in. 

The MID website is at:-  www.askMID.com

 If you are insured and your registration does not come up after a search on the MID website, you must contact your insurers as only they can register your vehicle on the MID.

If you have a company and operate a block or group policy, you must make sure that any changes to vehicles you operate are notified to your insurers immediately.

So, the bottom line in all this is that if you are using your vehicle on the road, it must be insured and you should check its on the MID, or you are not using your vehicle on the road and its not insured, in which case, you need to swear a SORN using a V14 form.

The DVLA operation is massive and because of that it’s unwieldy and it’s almost impossible to speak to someone when you get problems.  Over the years, we have experienced many mistakes by the DVLA and it’s mostly been very difficult to get them rectified, sometimes almost impossible, even when it’s their mistake.  So our advice to you is don’t mess around with these regulations, do exactly as the rules and the law say and everything should be fine.

For more information and to get a V14 form visit www.direct.gov.uk/stayinsured

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