The MID (Motor Insurance Database) is a database of all insured vehicles in the UK and contains information about the policy and policyholder with data loaded by the insurance companies (in the case of commercial motor insurance it can be a requirement that the policyholder updates his own vehicle information).
If you are uncertain as to whether or not your vehicle is on the MID you can check yourself by using www.askMID.com If your vehicle doesn’t show up you should contact us immediately as if your vehicle IS insured but not on the MID you could be inconvenienced. The police have access to the MID and ANPR technology (automatic number plate recognition) uses the data stored on the MID. When you take out or renew a policy, or make an alteration to an existing policy, it can take up to 14 days for the MID to show the correct information.
How long have they got to do it?
Insurance companies have a target of 7 days to get your data onto the MID, which is increased to 14 days for commercial, fleet or motor trade policies, but the vast majority of the data is on the MID within a couple of days.
Why was the MID introduced?
The UK has one of the worst records in Western Europe for uninsured driving. It is estimated that one in twenty cars on the road is being driven without the correct insurance in place. Uninsured drivers cost the industry approx £500m per year which adds approximately £33 to each policy.
In view of this the MID was set up by the insurance industry to help combat this crime, reducing the number of uninsured motorists on the road, therefore reducing the cost to the industry of compensating victims of accidents involving uninsured motorists.