Got Private Plate - Forgot to inform Insurer

DullGreyGuy

born_again said:
Remember that it's not the car that's insured – it's the driver. So while the owner of the car may have an insurance policy for the vehicle,

Its a combination of the two which is why insurance policies have to have vehicle registrations on them which are then reported to the MID which is used by the police and DVLA to identify vehicles without insurance. 

Named drivers are only insured to drive the vehicle on the policy, even policyholders are increasingly only covered on the specified vehicle(s) and even if cover is extended to other vehicles its limited to TPO cover.

If anything its closer to the vehicle being insured as whilst Any Driver policies are fairly rare these days if any identified person is driving the vehicle then the insurer of it will have to deal with any third party claims as the RTA insurers (though they will have a right of recovery from the driver and potentially the policyholder if they consented) 

As per the FOS case, the vehicle really was insured, its a relatively minor technicality that they hadnt updated the new reg and so MID didnt show a policy.

Grey_Critic

You need to prove that the vehicle is insured - how are you going to do that? The policy only shows the Registration number. What prooof is there that it is the correct vehicle. No VIN number is shown on the policy.

The Police can obtain the VIN from DVLA and check against the vehicle BUT there is no VIN for the vehicle on the vanilty plate or if one is listed it will be for the vehicle that it was on previously. Two vehicles cannot share the same VIN.

The OP was able to search for and purchase the vanilty plate - they were able to buy a plate with the vanilty number - how did they do that. You need to provide documentation proving ownership/entitlement to have a plate made up (yes I know most suppliers do not bother) and after all that they did not inform the most important people - Their Insurer - If they had not been stopped when would they have gotten around to it?

Consider that if their insurance had been on auto renew it could have been even longer before anybody told them.

DullGreyGuy

Grey_Critic said:

Consider that if their insurance had been on auto renew it could have been even longer before anybody told them.

And if you look on the FOS website there are cases where the reg had been wrong for years. 

I cannot be bothered to find it again but in one case with our friends at One Call the customer had called up and done a change of vehicle but the new reg was input by the call centre agent as 1 character out. The reg on the policy was for a different make/model of vehicle to what was insured however the policy showed the correct make/model.

The call recording had been lost so it was difficult to say how the problem had happened but the brokers did say their staff can overkey the details from DVLA. 

The complaint wasnt upheld because whilst the exact cause of the issue wasnt identified the FOS felt the 3 renewals that had happened with the paperwork showing the wrong reg each time was sufficient opportunity for the policyholder to have spotted the error before they were stopped by the police

ontheroad1970

The original VRN sits under the private plate all the time in nearly every case.  Personally I think it could go either way, but the OP has little to lose in trying

Grumpy_chap

akira181 said:

It's your responsibility to inform the insurer immediately of any changes you make to your policy or vehicle, no matter how small. Be it a change of radio, alloys, paint colour, marriage surname, etc. Even factory fitted optional extras that don't come as standard must be reported, even if you bought second hand and it was the original owner who purchased the optional extras.

I had always understood that factory fitted options did not need to be declared as these are part of the original build and available for the insurer based upon the registration / VIN plate details.
I understood it was only changes post-factory that needed to be declared...

DanDare999

Grey_Critic said:

You need to prove that the vehicle is insured - how are you going to do that? The policy only shows the Registration number. What prooof is there that it is the correct vehicle. No VIN number is shown on the policy.

The Police can obtain the VIN from DVLA and check against the vehicle BUT there is no VIN for the vehicle on the vanilty plate or if one is listed it will be for the vehicle that it was on previously. Two vehicles cannot share the same VIN.

The OP was able to search for and purchase the vanilty plate - they were able to buy a plate with the vanilty number - how did they do that. You need to provide documentation proving ownership/entitlement to have a plate made up (yes I know most suppliers do not bother) and after all that they did not inform the most important people - Their Insurer - If they had not been stopped when would they have gotten around to it?

Consider that if their insurance had been on auto renew it could have been even longer before anybody told them.

They were sat with the car when they stopped the OP. The VIN was easily verified then.

Had the OP lost or had both plates stolen and decided to drive it home, are you saying the insurance would be void?

Number plates are technically and excise matter. You can drive to pre booked mot and home without and excise duty being paid. 

The cop may have reported the OP but if a supervisor doesn't see sense the CPS will.

EDIT: The OP informed the DVLA? Yes

The PNC will show the new plate complete with VIN and engine number. There will also be another page with the cherished transfer showing the original VRN. In short the police didn't know what they were doing at the time of the stop. 

Grey_Critic

Grumpy_chap said:

I had always understood that factory fitted options did not need to be declared as these are part of the original build and available for the insurer based upon the registration / VIN plate details.
I understood it was only changes post-factory that needed to be declared...

True - the problem lies in the interpretation by the owner. They add things at the point of sale and think of them as part of the build. Alloys used to be favourite.

As akira181 said: It's your responsibility to inform the insurer immediately of any changes you make to your policy or vehicle, no matter how small.

The OP failed to do so and as I have said previously - Could find and buy the vanity plate, Could find someone to make and fit the plate then claims to have forgotten.

The answer is to wait until they get the letter and decide if they want to make a Lawyer even richer. Problem with quoting precedents and such is they can be quoted back at you proving the opposite.

Car_54

DanDare999 said:

Grey_Critic said:

You need to prove that the vehicle is insured - how are you going to do that? The policy only shows the Registration number. What prooof is there that it is the correct vehicle. No VIN number is shown on the policy.

The Police can obtain the VIN from DVLA and check against the vehicle BUT there is no VIN for the vehicle on the vanilty plate or if one is listed it will be for the vehicle that it was on previously. Two vehicles cannot share the same VIN.

The OP was able to search for and purchase the vanilty plate - they were able to buy a plate with the vanilty number - how did they do that. You need to provide documentation proving ownership/entitlement to have a plate made up (yes I know most suppliers do not bother) and after all that they did not inform the most important people - Their Insurer - If they had not been stopped when would they have gotten around to it?

Consider that if their insurance had been on auto renew it could have been even longer before anybody told them.

Number plates are technically and excise matter. You can drive to pre booked mot and home without and excise duty being paid. 

Without VED yes, but not without number plates. [Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994, s42(1)].

But what has that to do with the OP's situation?

sevenhills

motorguy said:

He has insurance.  If he hasnt produced the docs already, he should be able to show the original policy for the original reg and the policy now updated with the new reg.

There was continuance there and at no point was the car not insured.

I dont think that warrants 6 points for no insurance.

The police officer thought he didn't have insurance and I agree with him. He was insured on that registration number, not the VIN number.

DullGreyGuy

Grumpy_chap said:

akira181 said:

It's your responsibility to inform the insurer immediately of any changes you make to your policy or vehicle, no matter how small. Be it a change of radio, alloys, paint colour, marriage surname, etc. Even factory fitted optional extras that don't come as standard must be reported, even if you bought second hand and it was the original owner who purchased the optional extras.

I had always understood that factory fitted options did not need to be declared as these are part of the original build and available for the insurer based upon the registration / VIN plate details.
I understood it was only changes post-factory that needed to be declared...

Depends on the Insurer, most dont ask about them however Admiral Group do require you to declare them @Grumpy_chap and there may be other more niche players