Uninsured car parked in front of my house

naijapower

One the neigbours in my area keeps shuffling uninsured vans (not sure where he gets them from) and cos we live in a tight area,he choses to park or dump these excess vans outside my house for wks b4 they disappear.
I obviously do not like these 'funny looking' vans near my house.
During the last snow early this year, one of his van nearly skidded into my property.
I reported to the council and they spoke to him, it ceased but it has now suddenly resumed.
My question is - Is it not against the law to have an uninsured vehcile on a public road?
If so, would this not be a Police matter?
What is the penalty for this kind of offence

naijapower

Forgot to state, i was able to confirm these vans are uninsured by checking askmid.
Does anyone know how accurate and up to date this database is?

Lum

How do you know they're uninsured? askmib.com? If he has a traders policy then the vans will not show up on that site as a traders policy covers you on any vehicle and you don't have to inform the insurer for up to two weeks after you acquire it.

Sucks that it's causing you problems but so long as he doesn't block anyone's driveway he's (unfortunately) well within his rights to do this if he has a traders policy.

You could check the tax discs on them and report any untaxed ones, but if you get seen doing that expect to find your car keyed or something, best to check the tax status online using the DVLA site

I'm not allowed to post links, so append www. to the beginning of this:

taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/application?origin=vnav_bar.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.refresh&pageid=Vehicle+Enquiry

naijapower

Thanks for your input. I honestly doubt if this one parked outside my house is insured. cos he has had it for 2 months and moved it to different parts of the estate. I checked 2 months ago and it came up as uninsured and checked now and same. Also, this man is in debt and bailiffs invaded his house last month. I honestly dont think he can afford to insure all these vehicles.
Can i ask that you expand on 'Trader's policy'.

With regards to keying option, i sincerely hope not for his own good, cos i wont retaliate big time....no empty threat. There is no justification for anyone to key or vandalise my car cos i am trying to gather info/evidence by reading his tax disc

Lum

A traders policy is basically a policy for anyone in the motor trade. This can be a self employed mechanic, someone who buys and sells vehicles for a living and so on an so forth. It allows them to drive customers vehicles and be insured (like if your mechanic takes your car out for a road test) and vehicles they've bought to sell, etc. etc. TradEx are one company that provide such a policy and if you can get one it's often a lot more economical than individually insuring cars. I'm aware of one guy who got a traders policy because it was cheaper than insuring his Porsche on it's own.

As for the keying thing, basically from your description this guy sounds like a massive !!!!! so if he sees you causing him trouble, it's likely that he'll respond with pointless petty vandalism.

Oh and to answer your second post which I didn't see when I wrote my reply. The MIB database, according to a guy from the MIB who was on Radio 4 last year, can only be used to confirm that a vehicle IS insured, not that a vehicle IS NOT insured. I know that's not how the police are using it these days but that's what it was designed for which is why people are having their cars wrongly seized.

naijapower

Lum wrote: »

Oh and to answer your second post which I didn't see when I wrote my reply. The MIB database, according to a guy from the MIB who was on Radio 4 last year, can only be used to confirm that a vehicle IS insured, not that a vehicle IS NOT insured. I know that's not how the police are using it these days but that's what it was designed for which is why people are having their cars wrongly seized.

Thanks. But doesnt make much sense. If confirmation cannot be obtained that a vehicle is insured, does that not imply or suggest it may be uninsured?

goldspanners

naijapower wrote: »

Thanks. But doesnt make much sense. If confirmation cannot be obtained that a vehicle is insured, does that not imply or suggest it may be uninsured?

the confirmation is an insurance certificate,not an computer database.

Lum

When you take out insurance, your insurance company are supposed to put your vehicle details on the database, this can take up to a week anyway and some incompetent insurance companies randomly don't bother or !!!! it up.

With a traders policy you are covered to drive on ANY vehicle without notifying the insurer in advance so there is no way it can ever show up on the database.

This is basically a fundamental flaw in how the motor insurance database works, in this country it is the DRIVER that is insured, not the vehicle. Most policies only insure the driver to insure a specific vehicle, trade policies insure a driver on any vehicle, but said vehicles may fail an ANPR check as the MID shows them uninsured. Likewise I could get into your car and drive it and I'd be uninsured but I'd pass an ANPR check because the MID would show your policy.

Basically the MID only applies in the typical scenario of someone with a policy in their name driving their own car, in any other situation it's results are useless. Also given it can take so long to update the database you can be fully insured and still show up as uninsured.

In short if a vehicle shows up on the MID then it probably is insured, if it doesn't show up on the MID then it might not be insured. Or to put it another way, the MID is a complete waste of space, the only thing it's good for is allowing a lot of people to buy a tax disc online.

naijapower

goldspanners wrote: »

the confirmation is an insurance certificate,not an computer database.

Yes, i understand what you mean. But a computer database (so long as it is up to date) is made up of info contained on an insurance certificate.
In my opinion, one and the same thing

Middlers

Take your suspicions to the police - they will check it out and if uninsured they will pay a visit to the owner. Usual penalty is a fine.

naijapower

Middlers wrote: »

Take your suspicions to the police - they will check it out and if uninsured they will pay a visit to the owner. Usual penalty is a fine.

Seems thats the best option, Police can follow up and check especially as he nearly skidded into my property. Be it traders policy or normal policy, Police would know eventually