Since April 2024 the Motor Insurance Database has run on a new MIB platform called Navigate. It does the same job, and most drivers and insurers still refer to it as the MID, the term we use throughout this guide.
What is the MID?
The MID is the Motor Insurance Database, the central record of every vehicle in the UK that has a current insurance policy. The police use it to check that vehicles are insured: ANPR cameras (Automatic Number Plate Recognition), fitted to patrol cars and roadside cameras across the UK, scan number plates and cross-check them against the database in seconds.
In April 2024 the MIB moved the MID onto a new cloud platform called Navigate. The name you will still see most often is the MID, and the way it works for drivers is unchanged, but Navigate is the system now running behind it.
Not on the MID? The police can seize your vehicle
When a patrol car or speed camera scans your plate and finds no matching insurance on the MID, you are treated as uninsured, and officers have the right to stop and impound the vehicle on the spot. That is why it is essential your car is insured from the moment you own it.
Every UK insurer has a duty to add your policy to the MID, and the database refreshes roughly every 48 hours. A genuinely insured car can briefly not appear while that update catches up, so always keep proof of cover to hand.
What if my car is impounded for not being on the MID?
If you were genuinely driving without insurance, rather than a mix-up with your registration details, the vehicle will be impounded and you will need specialist impounded car insurance to release it, on top of any fines.
Does the MID update on weekends?
It depends on your insurer. Some operate at weekends and will update the database then; others only process during weekday office hours. Because the MID refreshes every 48 hours, a policy bought on a Friday might not appear until the Monday or Tuesday. The MID also allows for updates to take up to seven days in some cases, so a short delay is normal rather than a sign anything is wrong.
I’ve insured my car but it’s not showing on the MID
This can happen for a few reasons. The most common is simply timing, your insurer has not yet logged the new policy with the MID. The next most common is a misspelt registration plate. Always triple-check the details you enter online or give over the phone, and keep a copy of your insurance, on your phone or printed in the glovebox, so that if you are pulled over you can show you genuinely intended to insure the car and made an honest error.
- Typing error in your vehicle details, for example a zero entered instead of the letter “O”
- Timing, where the database simply has not updated yet
- A detail recorded incorrectly when taking out the policy over the phone
Will one day car insurance show on the MID?
When you take out temporary car insurance, the details are passed automatically to the MID, but it can take up to 24 hours to appear, and in extreme cases up to seven days. That means very short policies, such as hourly cover, may only register on the database after they have already expired. With short-term cover especially, print off your insurance certificate or be ready to show it on your phone if needed.
One of the brokers on our panel, GoShorty, updates the MID more often than most insurers, which matters most for hourly and short-term cover:
- GoShorty updates the MID four times a day, at 5:30am, 9am, 2pm and 6pm, every day of the year.
- Your details should appear on the database within two hours of an update, and often sooner.
- That makes short-term and hourly policies far more likely to show on the MID in time, taking the stress out of last-minute checks.
Compare temporary car insurance quotes and get instant digital documents you can show straight away.
Does temporary car insurance show on the MID?
If your temporary policy is still within its term, expect it to appear on the MID within 48 hours. If it has not shown after that, contact your insurance broker, and bear in mind weekends can extend the wait.
SORN vehicles and the MID
The one situation where it is acceptable for a vehicle not to show on the MID is when it is registered under a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification). A SORN declares the car off the road and not in use, kept stationary off the public highway. Patrolling ANPR cars will still scan it, but the SORN tells them it is legitimately uninsured. If a vehicle is neither SORN-declared nor insured, the police can clamp it to keep it immobile and issue a penalty notice with points on your licence.
It is the law to have insurance to drive any vehicle in the UK, whether you are the permanent or a temporary driver. Going without, as set out above, risks fines, points and an impounded vehicle, so make sure cover is in place before you drive.