Post by yenilira on Dec 18, 2011 15:43:40 GMT 1
Maybe you’re already aware of this, but if you’re a car owner it’s well worth knowing about. Earlier this year, the laws on keeping a car changed in a subtle-but-important way.
As you may know, if you never use your car on public roads, you can make a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) to the DVLA. This essentially tells them that your car is used for purely-ornamental purposes, and it gets you out of paying road tax. If you don’t do this, not only must you pay road tax, but you now have to keep the car constantly insured. You can find out more about this by visiting: www.direct.go.uk/stayinsured.
What this means is that if your car isn’t insured (for reasons you think are perfectly sound, and indeed may have been until recently), it could land you in trouble. However, there’s one more little catch to it. Even if your car is insured, it may not appear on the database of insured cars that the DVLA uses to check!
That wouldn’t be your fault, of course – it’s up to insurance companies to update that database when they insure a car – but if your car doesn’t appear on that database, it could cause you some unnecessary aggravation. That database is called the MID, short for Motor Insurance Database, and there’s a website you can visit to make sure your car is included on it. Visit: www.askmid.com, and in the yellow box on the right, click Check askMID. On the next page, type in your car’s registration number, tick the box to confirm that you’ve read the terms of use, and type the security code characters shown in the picture. Finally, click the askMID button.
Now you’ll see the same form again, and this confused me! I thought I’d done something wrong and had to fill it in again, so I did – twice more. In fact, I wasn’t paying attention. Ignore the form and look to its upper-left, where you should see a small note confirming that your car’s registration number is in the insurance database.
If the note says that your car doesn’t appear in this database, and you know it should, it would be wise to contact your insurance company and ask them to update the MID to ensure your car is included in it.
Merry Christmas and Happy, Safe driving.
YL.
As you may know, if you never use your car on public roads, you can make a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) to the DVLA. This essentially tells them that your car is used for purely-ornamental purposes, and it gets you out of paying road tax. If you don’t do this, not only must you pay road tax, but you now have to keep the car constantly insured. You can find out more about this by visiting: www.direct.go.uk/stayinsured.
What this means is that if your car isn’t insured (for reasons you think are perfectly sound, and indeed may have been until recently), it could land you in trouble. However, there’s one more little catch to it. Even if your car is insured, it may not appear on the database of insured cars that the DVLA uses to check!
That wouldn’t be your fault, of course – it’s up to insurance companies to update that database when they insure a car – but if your car doesn’t appear on that database, it could cause you some unnecessary aggravation. That database is called the MID, short for Motor Insurance Database, and there’s a website you can visit to make sure your car is included on it. Visit: www.askmid.com, and in the yellow box on the right, click Check askMID. On the next page, type in your car’s registration number, tick the box to confirm that you’ve read the terms of use, and type the security code characters shown in the picture. Finally, click the askMID button.
Now you’ll see the same form again, and this confused me! I thought I’d done something wrong and had to fill it in again, so I did – twice more. In fact, I wasn’t paying attention. Ignore the form and look to its upper-left, where you should see a small note confirming that your car’s registration number is in the insurance database.
If the note says that your car doesn’t appear in this database, and you know it should, it would be wise to contact your insurance company and ask them to update the MID to ensure your car is included in it.
Merry Christmas and Happy, Safe driving.
YL.