"ASKMID" if your insurance details are up-to-date!

Use of the Motor Insurance Database (MID) in the fight against uninsured driving is growing yearly – since the launch of the database in 2001 the number of police enquiries has increased to almost 3 million every month – more than one every second of every day! The Database, developed for the insurance industry by a CTK-led programme team, is updated by insurers, brokers and, in some cases, commercial policyholders. Thousands of companies who have "blanket" fleet insurance must provide details of their insured vehicles to their insurers, to keep the MID up to date, and one of the challenges facing the Police is knowing whether a "missing" vehicle is uninsured, or whether the policyholder has been less than rigorous in providing this information.

A new initiative from the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB), which runs the MID, allows drivers of vehicles insured on commercial policies limited on-line access to the Database so that they can check whether their details have been supplied – and therefore whether the police will find the information if they check up on a vehicle. CTK consultants provided advice to MIB during the development of the new facility as part of their support contract. The new website – www.askmid.com – provides a simple look-up for owners and drivers which shows whether the registration number of their vehicle is recorded at the time of the enquiry. The facility accesses the live information on MID, so any missing information should be followed up quickly – if the search does not return a "green light" for the registration then this means the police will also hit a blank when they use the MID to check for insurance, which could prove to be very bad news for the driver, since the police have the right to seize any vehicle if they have reasonable grounds to believe it is uninsured.

CTK Managing Director Donald Martin welcomed the new service, saying "Every time the Police stop an insured driver because the MID has not been kept up to date they are wasting time which could be spent identifying the real criminals. This facility will show companies instantly whether their drivers and vehicles are at risk of being pulled over, so they can take steps to get the information onto MID."

Background:

The Motor Insurance Database contains details of 34 million insured UK vehicles, used by the Police, DVLA, solicitors and insurers. Its development was managed by a CTK-led team on behalf of the insurance industry, and CTK has continued to provide support for the MID programme since its inception in 2000.

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