Should I keep my insurance/registration papers in my car or in my pocket?

gilbutre

Hi everyone,

I came across this article which states that it's best to keep insurance and registation documents in the car.

However some people say you should keep these documents in your pocket, NOT in your car, because if your car gets stolen you loose the documents at the same time which is a problem.

So what is the best recommendation, car or pocket?

colino

Option 3, safe at home. You don't need the docs with you, so why expose them to theft or loss?

spacey2012

In this day and age, if everything is paid, the police can check everything by pressing one button on a data terminal .
They treat paper documents as forgeries anyway, so little point in carrying them, if your car is on the MID database your ok, if it's not, they will seize it .

If you have a collision, give the other driver your contact details and tell them to give them to their insurance.

Captain_Flack.

spacey2012 wrote: »

In this day and age, if everything is paid, the police can check everything by pressing one button on a data terminal .
They treat paper documents as forgeries anyway, so little point in carrying them, if your car is on the MID database your ok, if it's not, they will seize it .

If you have a collision, give the other driver your contact details and tell them to give them to their insurance.

Where do you dig these things up from?

Did that come in when they removed the blood test from the RTA?

dacouch

spacey2012 wrote: »

In this day and age, if everything is paid, the police can check everything by pressing one button on a data terminal .
They treat paper documents as forgeries anyway, so little point in carrying them, if your car is on the MID database your ok, if it's not, they will seize it .

If you have a collision, give the other driver your contact details and tell them to give them to their insurance.

Although having the original "relevant" Certificate to produce can come in handy.

http://www.legalknowledgescotland.com/?p=263

OP you can always scan the documents and then email them to yourself to a hotmail or gmail account etc which you can access on the go. (Especially handy for Travel Insurance Documents)

DigForVictory

I Keep a photocopy of my insurance details in the glovebox, but all orginals are in the firesafe at home.
Plod can see my car's legal history (tax/insur/MOT) at a click, and anyone who I nudge/bumps into me just needs my insurance details. (With the home & work phone numbers, dob & sundries fuzzed.)

Captain_Flack.

DigForVictory wrote: »

I Keep a photocopy of my insurance details in the glovebox, but all orginals are in the firesafe at home.
Plod can see my car's legal history (tax/insur/MOT) at a click, and anyone who I nudge/bumps into me just needs my insurance details. (With the home & work phone numbers, dob & sundries fuzzed.)

You are not legally required to provide any of that and only insurance in the event of an injury.

paddedjohn

Captain_Flack. wrote: »

You are not legally required to provide any of that and only insurance in the event of an injury.

That's probably why they fuzz those parts out then.

Captain_Flack.

paddedjohn wrote: »

That's probably why they fuzz those parts out then.

To be fair I've never had any phone numbers or dob on the original docs.

Iceweasel

Keeping everything safely at home is good advice as you should have a week at least to produce the docs to a police station of your choice if a Police Officer wants to actually have them seen - as opposed to checking their existence from a data base.

On a journey outside the UK you really should have the V5C and Insurance (and MOT if applicable) with you and be able to produce them immediately along with your Driving Licence if asked by a foreign official - Police, Customs, Border Control etc.

I know for a fact that most foreign police (certainly in the EU) can access the UK data bases - but they won't admit to it.

I was stopped in a routine check in Germany and the Polizei already had a small tear-off, till-roll sized, piece of paper in his hand with my registration number and home address printed on it, when he stepped out of his car.

KTF

gilbutre wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I came across this article which states that it's best to keep insurance and registation documents in the car.

However some people say you should keep these documents in your pocket, NOT in your car, because if your car gets stolen you loose the documents at the same time which is a problem.

So what is the best recommendation, car or pocket?

That article relates to the US where you are expected to keep the details with you.

In the UK there is no such requirement so keep them at home. That way, if the car gets stolen, they dont take the registration document with them as well.