Yahoo Finance How to check your car insurance
It can seem like there’s a never-ending number of insurance policies to try to keep track of, and if you find yourself wondering whether you remembered to insure the car, know that you’re certainly not the only one.
And if you did remember, you might not know who it’s insured with.
But it’s important to keep on top of these things – for one thing, it’s illegal to drive a car without insurance.
You’ll also need to know your policy details in case you ever need to make a claim. Plus, when it comes to renewing, you need to make sure you’re not paying over the odds.
Here, Telegraph Money explains everything you need to know about checking the insurance on your car and finding the all-important policy details, in five simple steps.
Step 1: Check insurance status online
It’s easy to check quickly whether your car is insured by looking it up online.
You can use the Motor Insurance Database (MID), a free service that lets you check if your car is insured. You simply enter the vehicle’s number plate and declare that you’re the owner or registered keeper of the car.
The database will confirm that the car is insured by displaying a green tick. A red cross means it’s currently uninsured – though it’s worth noting that mistakes happen.
If no record is found on the MID but you believe you are insured, you should get in touch with the insurer or the person responsible for insuring the vehicle to ensure the MID is up-to-date.
Step 2: Verify your insurance provider
To find out your insurance provider you could check your email inbox as your first port of call.
Search for “car insurance”; as most insurers send confirmation by email, and if you’ve agreed to go paperless then your full policy might be on your email, too.
Alternatively, you could check your bank account or credit card statements (if you use an app you can search for “insurance”) for evidence of payments to an insurer – the name should appear on the transaction list.
If you want to double check that it’s car insurance, and not your house or travel cover, you can always call the insurer listed on your statement to check the policy details.
Step 3: Contact insurance company directly
Once you’ve confirmed the details of the policy you might want to contact your provider for any finer details you want to delve into.
You might want a fresh copy of your policy or to know exactly what you are and aren’t covered for, as well as any excesses.
Many insurers offer several ways to contact them. As well as a telephone helpline there might be an email address and live web chat function. You might even get a faster answer using social media to contact them.
Step 4: Determine insurance coverage
Once you’ve tracked down your policy you can gain access to the ins and outs of your policy, and what it covers.
There are three types of car insurance – third-party, third-party fire and theft, and fully comprehensive.
Third-party cover is the most basic cover you can buy. It’s compulsory, and you can’t legally drive without it. It covers damage you cause to other people, passengers, or their property.
Third-party fire and theft covers you for damage to other people, passengers or their property, and your car is covered if it gets stolen or damaged by fire.
The most extensive cover you can get is a comprehensive policy, which covers you for repairs or replacement costs if your car is damaged or written off, stolen or catches fire. It also typically covers claims made against you for people, passengers and their property.
Step 5: Verify expiration date and renewal status
Your car insurance documents will tell you when your policy runs out. If you’ve misplaced these – either lost the hard copy or you can’t find the email in your brimming inbox – you can simply ask your insurer to reissue the policy.
Your insurance provider will also get in touch a few weeks before your renewal date to let you know when your policy is due to expire, and it will usually issue a renewal quote. This should include what you paid for the current year so you can compare quotes.
At this point it’s a good idea to do a comparison to see if you can get a cheaper deal from another provider on your next policy. You can always ask your existing insurer to match the price you find elsewhere to save the added admin of switching.
Common questions about checking your car insurance
Is askMID a legitimate way to check car insurance?
The free askMID search tool is a recognised way to check on the status of your car insurance. It’s a website maintained by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau and the government website (Gov.uk) links through to askMID in its insurance help pages.
To check your cover you just need your car registration number.
However, the website warns that a record on its database – called Navigate – is not proof of insurance and that policyholders should ensure you have access to your policy documentation.
You can also use askMID to check insurance on a vehicle that doesn’t belong to you. This can be useful if you need to check whether a third-party vehicle is insured in the event of an accident. You’ll be charged £10 for this kind of search and will receive the name of the third-party vehicle’s insurance provider, the policy number and claims contact details.
How can I check my car insurance record?
It’s easy to check your insurance record by looking at your policy documents.
These will tell you when your policy runs from and to, the names of those insured to drive the vehicle under the policy, the excess charged on claims and how many years of no claims bonus you’ve built up.
Your insurance claims are also available from your insurer. They can give you details of dates, type of claims, how much was paid out and any injuries.
You can also search the Claims and Underwriting Exchange (CUE) database, which holds records of every incident reported to insurance providers – even those that don’t lead to a claim.
You can make a subject access request via the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) website and access records going back six years, should you need to. It can take up to a month to get the results.
Should you need to find out how many years of no claims bonus you’ve built up, it will be displayed on any insurance documents you may have been sent, or you can ask your insurer to confirm to you in writing.
What happens if my car is not insured?
If you’re the registered keeper of an uninsured vehicle, you could be fined £100, have your vehicle wheel-clamped, impounded or destroyed, or be taken to court where you could get a fine of up to £1,000.
There’s a requirement for all cars to be insured, as part of the Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) scheme. The one exception is if your vehicle is officially declared as off the road with a Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN).
As well as penalties for uninsured vehicles, it’s illegal to drive on public roads in the UK without car insurance. So, if you’re caught driving a vehicle you’re not insured to drive, there are consequences.
The police could give you a fixed penalty of £300 and issue you with six penalty points, and if the case goes to court you could get an unlimited fine or disqualified from driving.
The police also have the power to seize, and in some cases, destroy the vehicle that’s being driven uninsured.
To avoid letting your car insurance expire you can opt for auto-renewal on your credit or debit card.
Insurance rules state that renewal quotes for existing policyholders shouldn’t be more expensive than for new customers.
However, it’s still worth shopping around when you receive your auto-renewal quote as there could be better deals out there.
