If you aren’t sure if your car insurance is up to date, who your insurer is or what type of cover you might have, then it’s easy to find out.
It’s important to do so. By law you must have car insurance even if you don’t drive your car and leave it parked on the street, on your driveway or even in your garage.
The only exception to this rule is if you’ve registered your car as off the road, with a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN).
If you don’t, the police could give you a fixed penalty of £100 and your car could be seized[1].
How to check if you have car insurance
It’s easy, quick and free to check if you have car insurance online.
Simply go to the Motor Insurance Database (MID) website, enter your car registration number in the yellow box and it will confirm whether your car is insured, plus its make and model. It can’t tell you who your insurer is.
The MID database has information of all cars insured in the UK and insurance companies add all insurance policies to the database[2]. The police can use this same database to see if your car is insured or not.
If you can’t remember who your provider is, check the policy documentation you were sent when you arranged the insurance. If you have trouble finding it, check your emails, credit card or bank statements to find the provider’s name.
Once you’ve found the name of your insurer, you can call them to get more information about your policy, request a copy of your documents and find out when it is due for renewal.
It’s also important to know what type of insurance you have in place. There are three types of car insurance cover available in the UK[3]: third party, third party, fire and theft and comprehensive. Each of them provides different levels of protection, with comprehensive insurance offering the highest level. It’s essential to know what type of policy you have to make sure you have the cover you need.
Why it’s important to check who provides your car insurance
If your car isn’t insured and you haven’t declared it off the road, you will not only be breaking the law, but you also won’t be covered in the event of an accident. If you find out that’s the case, then you need to set up an insurance policy as soon as possible.
If your car is insured, but you’re not sure who with, then it’s worth finding out soon. If you’re involved in an accident or your car is stolen[4], you need to contact your insurer as soon as possible after the incident.
This applies even if you don’t want to make a claim on your policy; you still need to notify your insurer.
Finding out what car insurance you have and who you’re insured with can give you peace of mind on the road and save you a lot of stress in the future.
