The MID is a centralised database of motor insurance policy information of all insured UK vehicles.
At conception, the MID was intended to be a tool in the reduction of uninsured driving in the UK. (a problem which cost the industry £215m in that year alone and now costs in excess of £500m).
All insurers who underwrite motor insurance for vehicles on UK roads are obliged to be members of the MIB and to submit the policy details of all vehicles to the MID.
The process of getting the information to the MID is managed by MIB but the data is loaded directly by the Insurers and their representatives.
Updates are made to the database round the clock, every day of the year. Insurance companies and those acting on their behalf endeavour to get data about new policies and revisions to existing policies to the database as soon as they can. However, policy information cannot always be updated to the database immediately.
Insurers are financially penalised if their data does not reach the database within timescales set by the DfT.
Various public bodies such as the Police, the DVLA and DVA can enquire upon the database. Also by Insurers and the MIB itself.
Any driver may check that their vehicle is registered on the MID by using www.askmid.com.
The UK Information Centre can be visited to enquire about what information is held on the database and to obtain information about the insurance details of another UK vehicle.
Solicitors, and other organisations, working on behalf of clients who are victims may be able to use www.askmid.com.
The information held on the database is supplied by motor insurance companies and reflects the information that has been supplied to them by the policyholder. If the information retrieved is found to be incorrect or the data is missing, the insurance company should be notified so that they can make the correction to their own files and the MID.
Subject to certain conditions, the UK Information Centre at MIB can search the MID on behalf of a victim of an accident or under provision of the Data Protection Act.
The MID and the DVLA
The Government is gradually introducing additional facilities that allow the public to access its services using electronic means. One of these services is Electronic Vehicle Licensing (EVL), which was introduced to England, Scotland and Wales in 2004 by the DVLA. This service allows vehicle re-licensing via the phone or Internet, although motorists are still able to go to a licence-issuing Post Office or DVLA local office to get a new tax disc should they not have access to a telephone or the Internet.
EVL uses the Motor Insurance Database (MID) to make a check on whether there is valid insurance on the date on which the licence must be renewed (or the date of the transaction, if this is later). An electronic message is sent to the MID, and if a record is found for the vehicle for the relevant date, the response is positive. No information about the policy is sent to the DVLA, but the transaction is authorised to go ahead.
Please note that motorists may not be able to use EVL if they have recently changed their name and or address, changed their insurance company or any details of their vehicle. There may also be problems verifying insurance cover if the tax and insurance are both due at the same time.
In Northern Ireland, the DVLNI have also introduced a telephone re-licensing service, which is available to callers with appropriate insurance for the vehicle to be re-licensed, as confirmed by an enquiry on the MID.
EVL helps in the fight against fraudsters who forge certificates. It also saves owners’ or keepers’ time, as they no longer have to hunt for their insurance certificate when they need a new tax disc
