Forgot to tell Insurer about Private Plate Change... Pulled over for no insurance

[Heofz]

So I was driving my car tonight, and got pulled over by the plod, he told me I was driving with no insurance, to which I confidently said "sorry your system must be mistaken, I'm insured with Admiral", he checked again and "nope".

He took down my ID, and also said I had no MOT, but quickly realised he read the numberplate wrong and corrected himself after checking again. Then he went round and checked my tyre tread. They are still legal but a bit low (3mm)... funny timing as I happen to have a fresh set sitting in the garage which are getting fitted in the morning!

About 5 mins into the conversation I suddenly realised to myself "oh snap, I never told the insurance company I changed my number plate!" It simply never occurred to me... perhaps I subconsciously thought that the mere act of assigning the private plate to my car and being issued with a new V5C took care of everything automatically. In hindsight that was clearly stupid of me and I'm pretty angry at myself for not thinking of it... apparently I also didn't read the very last sentence on back of the V317 (Registration Plate transfer form) either... how embarrassing.

He issued me with a slip saying I need to take my proof of insurance to the police station within 7 days, and he even read me my miranda rights as he handed it to me. Quite an interesting experience... felt like **** got real all of a sudden... for a second I even thought he was going to seize the vehicle.

After checking my email inbox (and letters by post) it appears that I never actually got sent an insurance certificate, it was definitely set up though because I personally did it over the phone, plus checking my old numberplate on askmid.com shows my car as insured.

So I need to call up Admiral first thing tomorrow morning to update my policy (conveniently their website login system is down right now) with the new registration, but I'm afraid of a couple of things:

1) The policeman said he himself will be following up with Admiral tomorrow to confirm whether they considered my car as insured at the time he pulled me over. What would they say?

2) He said that unless I can prove otherwise (i.e. bringing proof into the police station in the next 7 days), I will be prosecuted for 2 offences: i) Failing to provide proof of insurance when asked, ii) Driving without insurance.

TL;DR - Am I worrying too much? Or does this mean that I am almost certainly looking at prosecution?

 

[Blackhawk47]

I doubt he's going to check it the next morning. Perhaps he just said it to 'scare' you a bit.

Similar thing (well not changing plates but changing insurance companies) got my mum pulled over twice in a week. Insurance company messed up by not updating the database correctly (or some malarkey).

You are lucky the policeman didn't take things any further because he was well within rights to seize the car and arrest/leave you stranded.

 

[233]

Surely you would still be considered insured


Your insured to drive the vehicle of said type and model and the vrm is only an identifier it doesn't chsnge the fact you have a valid insurance policy for the very vehicle you were driving same situation as what happens when you change to a private plate. Dvla system will show new plate but you won't know that till you receive confirmation through the post you wouldn't be uninsured then

 

[Blackhawk47]

I don't think it works like that. ^^

 

[Scania]

When I bought my old e38 I ran it for a week or so with its "R plate" then got a private plate for it, I got the new plates fitted and then informed my insurers (Swiftcover iirc) of the change by phone, I was told that had I been pulled prior to me informing them of the new number I would not have been covered, the policy is very specific, naming my R plate VRN, that it then had a different VRN the policy would in the event of a Police stop or accident have been invalid.

I fear you may well be bang to rights as your certificate at the time of the stop would display the incorrect reg.

Fingers crossed for you but I'm not hopeful.

 

[Richie]

Surely you would still be considered insured


Your insured to drive the vehicle of said type and model and the vrm is only an identifier it doesn't chsnge the fact you have a valid insurance policy for the very vehicle you were driving same situation as what happens when you change to a private plate. Dvla system will show new plate but you won't know that till you receive confirmation through the post you wouldn't be uninsured then

Eh, no!

By extension that would mean he could drive any car that is the same make and model as his even if it had a different reg number... This is wrong.

Phone them to change it. Even if the cop was going to check on it, going by the time of your post, he would be on nightshift so wont be on again till tonight and will check it then if at all... He will probably just wait the 7 days to see if you have produced it. Dependant on what Admiral do, the certificate may not have a different date/time that when your policy started...

 

[Iamzod]

You are still insured. Your insurer should confirm this but may want you to jump through hoops to get proof from them such as providing them with reg change documents.

My colleague is currently trying to sort out the same mess & the first two advisors wrongly told him he was not covered, so he argued with them until he got put through to underwriting who asked him to e-mail his docs and they then sent him an indemnity letter covering the dates he was being prosecuted for.

 

[Iamzod]

By extension that would mean he could drive any car that is the same make and model as his even if it had a different reg number... This is wrong.

Unless Direct Line Group are different to every other underwriter then he is still covered as it is the physical vehicle that is covered not the registration plate, by extension that would not mean he can drive any car of the same make and model as it isn't his car.

We could cover cars on Chassis number instead of reg plate under some circumstances meaning the insurance certificate had no reg plate shown at all and you would flag up every ANPR you drove past, I think cover was limited to 21 days though.

I used to get this about once a week when I worked for them, it was a pretty straight forward one to sort out. Update the reg number on the system and then request an e-mail to be sent with the reg change docs scanned in. Once received a letter would be issued stating the vehicle was covered with the new reg number from the date of change to the date we updated it as if the vehicle was in an accident we would have still paid out as normal & it was therefore legally covered for third party risks.

You need to get onto this today however as it could take several days to get any letters out to you if your insurers admin department are as inept as Direct Line's was.

 

[thepharcyde]

With Admiral your docs will be online too chap when their site is up and running.

Hope this works out okay for you as I'm sure it will, don't worry

 

[arcamalpha]

Don't most policies give you 3rd party cover to drive any car? I wonder if your own car, albeit with the wrong plate, counts as any car?

If so you'd only be responsible for displaying the wrong plate.

 

[Heofz]

Thanks guys, I've just spoken to Admiral this morning and informed them of the new registration. They said they will be sending me the updated policy doc within the next hour.

 

[JRS]

Don't most policies give you 3rd party cover to drive any car? I wonder if your own car, albeit with the wrong plate, counts as any car?

Pretty certain that DOC policies state that the car must be owned and kept by someone else. So you can't drive a car that you own on the DOC portion of a policy for another car that you own.

 

[Voxination]

Don't most policies give you 3rd party cover to drive any car? I wonder if your own car, albeit with the wrong plate, counts as any car?

If so you'd only be responsible for displaying the wrong plate.

Although they stipulate that the car you drive must be fully insured by another policy, despite you being covered to drive it.

 

[shauncr91]

Thanks guys, I've just spoken to Admiral this morning and informed them of the new registration. They said they will be sending me the updated policy doc within the next hour.

Did they say that you would be classed as insured at the the timeyou was pulled?

 

[Hades]

Technically it's uninsured. But you may be lucky if Admiral change the policy and issue a new certificate with a date at the start of the policy instead of the date of changeover.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/144A

[F1144AOffence of keeping vehicle which does not meet insurance requirements

(1)If a motor vehicle registered under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 does not meet the insurance requirements, the person in whose name the vehicle is registered is guilty of an offence.

(2)For the purposes of this section a vehicle meets the insurance requirements if—

(a)it is covered by a such a policy of insurance or such a security in respect of third party risks as complies with the requirements of this Part of this Act, and

(b)either of the following conditions is satisfied.

(3)The first condition is that the policy or security, or the certificate of insurance or security which relates to it, identifies the vehicle by its registration mark as a vehicle which is covered by the policy or security.

(4)The second condition is that the vehicle is covered by the policy or security because—

(a)the policy or security covers any vehicle, or any vehicle of a particular description, the owner of which is a person named in the policy or security or in the certificate of insurance or security which relates to it, and

(b)the vehicle is owned by that person.

(5)For the purposes of this section a vehicle is covered by a policy of insurance or security if the policy of insurance or security is in force in relation to the use of the vehicle.]

Don't most policies give you 3rd party cover to drive any car? I wonder if your own car, albeit with the wrong plate, counts as any car?

If so you'd only be responsible for displaying the wrong plate.

Most (not all) fully comp policies allow you to drive another car which is not owned by you, not hired to you, and insured in it's own right. But policies vary.

 

[Heofz]

Just had the new docs come through, they clearly state that the policy is effective as at 09:15 am today until the date of expiry. I was stopped by police at 01:46. So essentially there was a gap of 7.5 hours when (according to Hades post) I was technically not insured.

 

[Iamzod]

You won't get an insurance certificate backdated by the monkey that answers the phone, they can't backdate them anyway, all he or she as done is amend the policy & pressed print.

You need an indemnity letter from the underwriter, unless you get one of these you are getting points on your licence.

 

[Heofz]

Hmm... how do I go about getting the indemnity letter? I.e what specifics should I be asking for?

 

[Iamzod]

You need to phone them and tell them you forgot to change your plate and you got stopped, ask them if you were covered against third party risks last night and if they say no then you need to ask to speak to someone else.

You need confirmation of cover from date of reg change with the DVLA to 9:15am this morning, this will be an indemnity letter not a certificate. They may want to see a copy of the document from the DVLA stating the registration has been changed over before they will do this.

An indemnity letter can usually only be issued by the underwriter and half of the time the idiot that answers the phone has no idea what they are talking about & has never heard of one, I know this as I spent 2.5 years working with people who had been in customer service for 10 years and didn't know their a**e from their elbow.

I managed to get one for a colleague of mine just yesterday from Ageas after arguments with 2 advisors and a manager, as soon as they got someone from underwriting on the phone it was a different conversation and he had his letter e-mailed out.

 

[Blackhawk47]

Most (not all) fully comp policies allow you to drive another car which is not owned by you, not hired to you, and insured in it's own right. But policies vary.

Yes but surely in this situation the previous insurance certificate is void anyway, so wouldn't cover you to drive other cars.

Its not like I can go outside right now and slap on a fake number plate and drive around insured...it's just illegal.