car insured 3 months but not on mid!

Joe_Horner

spacey2012 wrote: »

Having had a child be a victim of someone who should not have been driving, I would support anything that spares any parent that knock on the door.

Having personally been a victim of car theft, I would support disembowelling suspected car thieves with a rusty screwdriver just for looking at my car. Fortunately, the real world doesn't work like that.

The police must, by law give the benefit of the doubt to someone who produces an insurance certificate that appears to cover them. Once such a certificate is produced they are not permitted to "be suspicious" and make further checks.

Actually, that's not strictly true. They're perfectly entitled to phone the insurers if they want to, but they're not entitled to seize the car even if the insurers say it's invalid. If they do, and it turns out the insurer got it wrong (it can and does happen), then they can be sued.

That's how the law stands. It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than letting the police do whtever they like, which seems to be what you're suggesting.

Inch_High_2

spacey2012 wrote: »

Outside this, they are unable to validate your valid certificate.
The car will usually be seized until you can.

To be honest what other system would you prefer, let insured drivers flash a phone screen grab and drive away.

To be honest I favour the seize it and prove it later method.
Having had a child be a victim of someone who should not have been driving, I would support anything that spares any parent that knock on the door.

Can you read?

If you produce a certificate, not a phone screen, they cannot seize the vehicle unless they have good reason to believe it's not valid.

maria3104

Here is a thought, deal with a which recommended insurer. They update MID in 3 days maximum and you do not then get these hassles

thenudeone

Inch_High wrote: »

If you produce a certificate, not a phone screen, they cannot seize the vehicle unless they have good reason to believe it's not valid.

A certificate legibly displayed on a phone (or other electronic) screen is valid in exactly the same way that a paper certificate is.
THAT IS THE LAW, regardless of what anyone (including a police officer) may think.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/1117/article/6/made

And secondly, even if the police have good reason to think it's not valid (for example the insurance company call centre told them it wasn't valid), the seizure will still be illegal if the certificate you produced was valid after all.
Search for Pryor vs Greater Manchester Police if you don't believe me.

vikingaero

We had nearly 100 lorries, vans and cars from our fleet that never appeared on MID with one insurer despite us pleading with them to get it updated repeatedly.

However not one vehicle was ever stopped for insurance checks - even the several hundred thousand miles a year HGV's which must have pinged countless ANPR systemes.