Checking Vehicle Insurance?

[classic33]

No it hasn't.

Having been involved in an accident with that vehicle is a legitimate reason to check. Whether you are the driver of another vehicle, a pedestrian, or a cyclist. You do have to pay a fee of £10 though.

It was a free option given on the site, one that didn't require you to enter your vehicle registration* to access the insurance details. When trying to find out if the other vehicle involved was actually insured at the time.

*Pedal cycles don't have registration plates as a rule, in the UK. Nor are pedal cycles covered by the same sort of insurance as motor vehicles. No national database for a start.

 

[Alex321]

It was a free option given on the site, one that didn't require you to enter your vehicle registration* to access the insurance details. When trying to find out if the other vehicle involved was actually insured at the time.

*Pedal cycles don't have registration plates as a rule, in the UK. Nor are pedal cycles covered by the same sort of insurance as motor vehicles. No national database for a start.

The only difference is that now you have to pay £10 (or lie and say the vehicle is yours).

 

[classic33]

The only difference is that now you have to pay £10 (or lie and say the vehicle is yours).

You could do that before 2017. But then you were left to explain how you knew that bit.

11 years ago, you were required to enter the registration of both vehicles involved, or lie.
And, as said pedal cycles don't normally have registrations in the UK. Then or now.

 

[Emanresu]

A car can be insured but not necessarily for the driver at the time - or the purpose at the time. So searching the MID is a bit of a waste of time without the context.

 

[Mike_P]

GDPR goes to far IMO. Surely its in public interest and safety that whether the driver of a vehicle is insured should be openly accessible.
A crazy situation occurs in that GDPR rules totally preclude publication of any documents related to a persons health. That is to the extent a disabled person applying for an access ramp, solely needed because of their disability, cannot anywhere in published documents be referred to as being disabled.

 

[presta]

The Tax and MOT checks just say Yes/No and the date it expires, the Insurance check could just return the same result so no personal details would be given.

Insurance covers specific named people, not just the car, a checker website can't just say yes or no unless you specify for which driver.

 

[johnnyb47]

There's a car in my street that's shows it's tax ran out April 2024 and the Mot ran out in December and it's constantly in use.
I've reported it twice and nothings been done about it.
Either the database is wrong or the authorities just can't be bothered to follow it up,,, who knows.
I can only imagine their insurance would be classed as invalid if it where to be involved in an accident due to the lack of tax and Mot.

 

[presta]

I don't need to specify the driver, if a car is named on a valid insurance policy e.g. my own policy has my car, so a check on the car could say "yes this vehicle is named on a policy". If a vehicle is not named on a policy, it can still have that information returned with no GDPR breach.

If the computer says a car is insured by 'someone', that won't tell you whether the person it's insured for is the one driving it unless either the DVLA names the person insured or the enquirer names the person driving. Somewhere along the way specific names are required.

 

[toffee]

There's a car in my street that's shows it's tax ran out April 2024 and the Mot ran out in December and it's constantly in use.
I've reported it twice and nothings been done about it.
Either the database is wrong or the authorities just can't be bothered to follow it up,,, who knows.
I can only imagine their insurance would be classed as invalid if it where to be involved in an accident due to the lack of tax and Mot.

A car in our street was clamped by DVLA two days ago, clamp now gone so I assume the owner has paid up. Just noticed this morning that another in the next estate has a DVLA clamp on, so they do go around checking.

 

[presta]

There's a car in my street that's shows it's tax ran out April 2024 and the Mot ran out in December and it's constantly in use.

I scrapped my car 12 years ago, but the DVLA say it's still on SORN. Of the remainder, four are 'untaxed', and three 'not found'.

 

[Drago]

A car in our street was clamped by DVLA two days ago, clamp now gone so I assume the owner has paid up. Just noticed this morning that another in the next estate has a DVLA clamp on, so they do go around checking.

I grassed one up recently in my capacity as a local councillor and the DVLA lifted it away 5 days later. Twas an older but still very clean looking Mercedes.

 

[Alex321]

Insurance covers specific named people, not just the car, a checker website can't just say yes or no unless you specify for which driver.

It does so.

Go to askmid and put in your own registration number. It will tell you there is insurance in force for that vehicle, without specifying the driver.

 

[Alex321]

I can only imagine their insurance would be classed as invalid if it where to be involved in an accident due to the lack of tax and Mot.

You need to be able to imagine reality, where that is not the case.