Is My Van Insured?

How to check if your van is insured

It's a legal requirement to ensure your van is insured to drive on a road or in a public place at all times, with at least 3rd party cover.

It can be easy to forget whether your van is insured or not - or when your policy runs out, especially given the stresses, time pressure, and sometimes chaos if you run a small business. Perhaps your renewal documents haven't been sent out, got misplaced, you haven't had an automatic reminder, or are just plain uncertain when you took out the van policy in the first place.

If there's any doubt whether you are insured to drive, you'll need to check your van insurance.

You can check the validity and status of van insurance by looking over the policy documents your broker will have sent when you bought your van insurance. The van insurance certificate will state the time and date your policy started, and when it ends. You will either have been sent this in the post, by email, or both.

In addition, many brokers now have online portals where you can view all your documents and check the expiration date of your policy.

Alternatively, you can find out when your van insurance expired by giving your broker a call.

But I don't know which company my van is insured with!

If you can't remember who your van insurance is with, try searching:

• The Bank: - Find larger transactions from the last 12 or more months in your online banking account.
• Your Email: - Search your email using terms such as "renewal", "van insurance" or even just "insurance".

If you’re still asking the question “is my van insured?” then you probably can’t find your insurance documents, or find out who your van is insured with for the time being.

Maybe you haven't used the van in a while, need it for a big job - and just need confirmation that the van is insured.

Whatever your reason for checking, there's an easy and fast way to verify the status of your van insurance online, and find out if your van is insured. Best of all, it’s completely free.

How?

Simply visit askMID's insurance checker and check using your van registration number.

If your van is insured, you're good to go (but first see the limitations section below). If you're not insured, you'll need to get covered.

How to use the van insurance check

• Go to askmid.com and check the insurance status of your van by entering your registration number into the yellow box.

• Tick the box confirming you have read and understood the data protection declaration.

• Discover the insurance status of your van on MID

When you run the van insurance check, you'll get one of two possible results:

Limitations of the van insurance checking service

By ticking “I confirm” to the data protection declaration, you will be confirming that you’re entitled to the insurance status information of the van you are checking.

This means that the van either has to be owned, registered and insured by you or your employer (and that you are permitted to drive it), or you are a broker acting on behalf of a client.

If you use the free service to check the insurance status of someone else’s van, you may be committing an offence.

The results are a simple “yes” or “no”. The service doesn’t give are any more details so you won’t see who your underwriter or broker is, any details of your policy, or the date your van cover expires. You’ll need to get hold of your policy documentation or contact your broker for this information.

Returning a positive “yes, this vehicle is insured” result is not proof of your van being either insured or uninsured. It only confirms if the van you’re checking on currently appears as insured on the Motor Insurance Database on the day of the query.

Who provides the van insurance check?

AskMID is a free van insurance check provided by the Motor Insurers Bureau. Thy are the official body responsible for tackling uninsured driving. The checker searches the motor insurance database (MID) to confirm if your van is insured on the day of your query.

Will I receive notification if my van isn’t insured?

It’s fairly unlikely that your van will be uninsured without your knowledge, especially if it's been uninsured for an extended period. There are two reasons for this:

1) In the first instance, your broker should send you a renewal reminder by email, post, text message or a combination.

2) There is a scheme overseen by The Motor Insurers Bureau called “Continuous Insurance Enforcement.” The MIB works in partnership with the DVLA to send letters to the registered keeper of a van if the vehicle is not on MID, and doesn’t appear to have insurance. It’s enforced by fixed penalty notices or prosecution. You don’t have to be caught driving without insurance to be caught.

What if my van isn't insured?

It is your responsibility to ensure your van is continuously insured. There could be times when your renewal is forgotten or misplaced, or you haven't yet received a CIE enforcement letter.

The askMID van insurance checking service provides a useful free tool to check the status of your van insurance, whatever your reason for doing so.

As well as making sure that your tax and MOT are up to date, it’s vitally important (not to mention a legal requirement) to make sure your van is insured for use on the public highway. It’s also mandatory to keep your van insured at all times, even if not in use.

If you don’t want to insure your van, you’ll need to declare it off the road, or SORN (statutory off road notification). You can do this online at www.gov.uk/make-a-sorn

If you need van insurance, you can compare quotes and buy cover online at Biker Insure. Visit our van insurance page to compare van insurance, or simply start your new quote now:

Not covered, but just need van insurance for a few days, or even a few hours? You can get a quote for a short term van insurance policy via our temporary van insurance page.

Can I check the insurance status of a van I don’t own?

The free van insurance checker is only intended to be used to check if your van is insured.

If you need to check whether someone else’s van (or car) is insured in the event of an accident, you can do this at a charge of £10 for a single search.

How long does it take for van insurance to show on the MID?

Updates to the database are not automatic - but van insurance providers are obliged to supply the data in a "timely" manner.

Many providers state that they can take up to 7 days to update MID so if you've only recently bought your van policy, it could take a few days to show up.

Do bear this in mind when performing a van insurance check. It's neither proof of having van insurance, nor proof of not having van insurance. It only confirms if the van is currently showing on MID.

Van insurance check FAQ's