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Did you know that it’s illegal to drive an uninsured car? In the UK, it’s mandatory to insure your vehicle before heading out on the road. Even a cheap car insurance policy can help protect you and other drivers from any financial costs incurred should you ever find yourself involved in a car crash. If you need to check if your car is insured you can use the free and straightforward Motor Insurance Database (MID).
To check if your car is insured, all you need to do is obtain your registration number and then search for it in the Motor Insurance Database (MID). The MID is a national database of all the cars insured in the UK.
It’s completely free to search the MID database. It will tell you whether your car has a valid car insurance policy. The information you receive will be limited to a yes or no answer – it won’t show any of your insurance details.
You can also get information from your insurance provider. If you know who your car is insured by, you can log in to your account via your provider’s website. This will show you details relating to when you took out the policy and when you need to renew.
The MID doesn’t reveal which provider you’re insured with. If you’ve discovered that you’re insured via the database, but are not sure who with, there are a few ways to work out which provider your insurance policy is with.
To find out who you’re insured with:
Car insurance policies need to be renewed and kept up to date. Typically, customers take out annual policies that are to be renewed yearly. If you’re unsure how long is left on your current policy you can check the following.
The checks should involve:
Some providers send out reminders to customers prior to their renewal date, so also check your emails for any correspondence.
Driving without car insurance in the UK is illegal – and the offence carries criminal charges. It’s best to always keep your car insurance up to date in order to avoid committing such offences.
If you are caught driving a vehicle on a public road without car insurance you could face the following penalties:
Most car insurance policies will renew automatically. But, if you’ve opted out of auto-renew, all you need to do is contact your car insurance provider. Depending on your provider, you will have options to renew online or via phone.
If you’d like to switch car insurance providers, there are a few things to bear in mind.
Using the MID service, you can check whether a car has valid insurance if you’re insured on that car. You don’t need to be the registered owner to do so.
The askMID search tool can be used to check if someone else’s car is insured in the following situations:
You should be aware that to use this service there is a £10 fee.
There are a number of details that you’ll need to provide to check if a car in an accident is insured. Make sure you have all of the following to hand prior to using the service:
If you’ve been involved in an accident with an uninsured driver, thankfully you can still make a claim against them. Through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), you may make a claim if you’ve been injured or your property has been damaged.
Collect as much information as possible, such as date, time and registration number, and also take as many photos and videos if you can. It is not guaranteed that you’ll be able to claim, so as much evidence as possible will give you the best chance.
You may lose your no-claims discount. Some providers offer an uninsured driver promise which protects your no-claims bonus in such events, check with your car insurance provider if they offer this.
After a car accident, your fault or not, your car insurance will inevitably go up because you’re then viewed as a higher-risk.
Making a claim on your policy, more often than not, increases your premium. If you’ve made a non-fault claim – meaning the accident wasn’t your fault – then it won’t increase as much as an at-fault claim.
Even if you don’t make a claim after an accident, your insurance premium might still increase.
Why does this happen? If another driver made a claim, your provider may need to recoup the costs of that claim. Your provider could increase the costs because they think you are more liable to have another accident.
If your car is written off, the ownership of the vehicle is automatically transferred to your car insurance provider. Following this, you should receive a settlement payout. This settlement is usually equal to the amount it was worth before the accident took place.
No, you can check if your car is insured for free using the Motor Insurance Database (MID). This database is a national register for all cars in the UK. To use the service all you need is your registration number, and you can check whether your car is insured. However, the service won’t give any specific details such as which provider you’re insured with.
This depends on whether your car insurance auto-renews. Most providers have an option for auto-renew; if you have opted into this you shouldn’t need to do anything to renew. Usually, a reminder is sent out around one month before to remind you that your car insurance will renew soon. If you have opted out of auto-renew, you will need to contact your provider to renew at the news of your policy.
No, your insurance won’t expire if you sell your car. You also shouldn’t sell your car without valid car insurance and if you do so you could face penalty fines. One way around this is to take out temporary car insurance. This allows you to insure a vehicle for an hour, or up to 30 days at a time. This could cause any shortfalls, ensuring the vehicle is insured at all times until a new policy is taken out.
