It’s a criminal offence to drive on UK roads without a minimum level of car insurance, so if you have even the slightest doubt about the cover you’ve got in place, it’s essential to do a car insurance check for the vehicle you’re driving.
Find out about the risks of driving an uninsured car and learn how to check if a car is insured with our comprehensive guide.
How do you check if your car is insured?
The police can instantly check if your car is insured by scanning your registration plate, but it’s still quick and easy to check your car insurance status yourself if you know how.
The easiest way is to do a car insurance check online with the Motor Insurance Database (MID). Whilst insurance companies and the police use this centralised database, its askMID tool will also let drivers check the insurance status of their cars.
The service is free to use, and you won’t need to dig out any paperwork or documentation; you only need to enter your car registration number and confirm that you’re the vehicle’s legal owner (or registered keeper). askMID will then confirm whether your car is registered as insured. To reassure you that it’s got the correct car, it may also name the make and model of your vehicle (depending on whether your car insurer supplied that information).
However, the service doesn’t tell you who your current insurer is. For that, you’ll need to do a bit more digging.
How to check your car insurance provider
It will no doubt be a relief to know that your car is insured and that you shouldn’t be pulled over by the police for driving an uninsured vehicle. However, to put your mind at ease, you’ll invariably need to find out which insurance company you have a policy with.
Remembering just who your policy is with can be hard to keep track of, especially if you switch providers each year or have many other general insurance policies, such as home or travel.
However, there are several ways you can check and, hopefully, jog your memory:
- Scour your inbox: Your car insurer will likely have sent you policy details and documents via email, so try to find these by entering “car insurance” into the search bar. If that proves fruitless, check your spam folder as well
- Search through your paperwork: Double-check wherever you store your important documents at home, from filing cabinets to piles on the counter
- Check your bank statements: You might also be able to refresh your memory by looking back through your bank and credit card statements
- Go back to your favourite price comparison sites: Try logging onto any price comparison websites you regularly use. This will show you all your recent quotes and should hopefully give you the reminder you need
If all the above fail, you can submit a subject access request via the Motor Insurance Bureau. You might have to wait for up to a month to get a response, though, so it’s always worth exhausting the above list first.
How to check when your car insurance will run out
The easiest ways to check when your car insurance is due to run out is to:
- Check your car insurance documents: These will have been posted or emailed to you when you purchased the policy. Look for a renewal or end-of-contract date
- Call your insurance provider: If you can’t find your paperwork, the phone number will be on the insurer’s website
- Log in to your provider’s website: You should be able to find out everything you need to know about your current car insurance policy on your online account
Will your car insurance renew automatically?
Some car insurance policies will renew automatically each year, which is another reason you might lose track of where you are and need to run a car insurance check.
If your car insurance does auto-renew, you’ll get a letter around three weeks before your current policy runs out. This will tell you how much your policy will cost for the coming year, and the cover will roll over unless you request cancellation.
However, not all policies auto-renew, or you may have instructed your insurer not to auto-renew your policy when you took it out to encourage you to shop around for your next policy, so you mustn’t just assume your policy has rolled over.
If you’re unsure whether your car insurance auto-renews, contact your insurer or check the terms and conditions of your policy. You don’t want to accidentally become an uninsured driver.
What happens if your car isn’t insured?
If you discover that your car is uninsured, you must take action as soon as possible and arrange car insurance before you next need to get behind the wheel.
You can do this by calling your last known insurance company and asking it to arrange cover for you. But this is unlikely to get you the best deal. You can still shop around and buy insurance quickly using a price comparison website. Or, if even that feels like a rush, and you want to think more closely about what you need from your cover, you could arrange short-term or temporary car insurance to tide you over.
Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have all the relevant information and are familiar with the specifics of your car (such as the make and model) before you start.
You need a minimum of third-party car insurance to drive on UK roads, and driving without this level of cover is a criminal offence.
If the police apprehend you for driving without insurance, you’ll get a fixed penalty of £300 and six penalty points on your licence.
The penalty could be more severe if you’re involved in an accident whilst driving uninsured and your case goes to court. This could result in an unlimited fine, and you could potentially be disqualified from driving.
The police would also be within their rights to seize and destroy your car.
Beyond the legal recriminations, insurance companies take a dim view of motorists who drive without insurance. You’ll have to pay more for your car insurance in the future, and the penalty points will stay on your licence for four years.
How to check if another driver’s vehicle is insured
While you can use the askMID service to check the insurance status of a car you’re insured to drive, you can also check the insurance status of other vehicles. However, it’s important to note that this service is only intended to be used in the event of an accident and will incur a nominal fee of £10.
To check if a car is insured, you’ll be asked to enter the following:
- Your name
- Email address
- Your role in the accident (for example, a pedestrian, a cyclist or a driver)
- The date of the accident
- Your vehicle’s registration number
- The registration number for the car you want to check
If the car you’re checking is insured, MID will provide you with a policy number, the insurance company’s name and contact details. This should give you all the information you need to start a claim.
What happens to your insurance after an accident?
What happens to your car insurance after an accident will depend on the damage to your car.
If your car is damaged beyond repair, or the repair cost is considered too high, your insurer will write it off, and you’ll get a payout or settlement in return. The amount you get will depend on the value and condition of your vehicle before the accident (not the price you paid for it). Once you accept the settlement offer, the insurance company will become the car’s legal owner.
Frustratingly, you’ll still be liable to pay for the full year of car insurance even though you no longer have a car to drive. If you pay monthly, premiums for the rest of the year will still need to be paid. Or, if you paid up front, you won’t get any money back.
If, on the other hand, your car can be repaired, your cover will remain in place for the rest of the year. However, your insurance costs will likely increase when you renew your policy, even if the accident wasn’t your fault.
Checking your car insurance FAQs
The only way to legally avoid insuring your car without selling it is to declare it off the road with a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN). You’ll also no longer need to pay tax on the vehicle.
However, you should only do this if you’re absolutely certain you won’t need to drive it on public roads, as doing so would be a criminal offence. It’s also worth noting that if your car is declared off the road and uninsured, you won’t have any cover if it’s stolen from your drive or garage.
No, you don’t need to shell out to check if your own car is insured – the askMID service is free. The only circumstance where you would need to pay is if you want to check if another car is insured after an accident. In this case, you’d need to use another askMID search tool, and a £10 fee would be charged.
It’s dangerous to assume you can drive someone else’s car, even if it belongs to a friend or family member and you have their permission. The car must also be insured by its owner, and they must agree to you driving it.
Some comprehensive car insurance policies include “driving other cars” cover, but it’s not included as standard, so it’s important to check the exact terms on your paperwork. It’s also important to note that even if you’re insured to drive other cars, there are limitations to this cover. For example, cover is typically only provided on a third-party basis and only applies in an emergency, such as driving the car’s owner to the hospital when they can’t drive themselves.
If you know you’ll be driving a loved one’s car on more than one occasion, it could be worth having them add you to their policy as a named driver, but be aware this could affect their premiums.
The government offers a free vehicle checking service. This will confirm whether your car is taxed and has an up-to-date Ministry of Transport (MOT) status, informing you what date you need to renew these. To access this information, you only need to enter your car’s registration number.
