To be very upset we’ve been driving around in uninsured vehicle

[BlueFairiesinthesky]

Just stopped by police with young children in car, very upsetting as was accused of driving an unregistered/ uninsured vehicle.

Our car was purchased new from the official dealership 3 years ago. We’ve had two official services and been insured through legit insurers since. The number plate is wrong by one letter! All documentation has the wrong license number. However the ownership paper does state a different license number, which I assume is the correct one.

Obviously we should have picked up on the discrepancy, my only excuse is we had a newborn at the time!

The police said we’ve been driving around uninsured for 3 years and If we’d had an accident would be fully liable for damage and personal injury.

We plan to visit the dealership tomorrow but just after any advice as I feel really angry about it. I don’t understand how this could have happened and feel really angry that we’ve been driving around at risk.

I don’t think we should drive the car until they can install the correct number plate. Which is an inconvenience. I’ve also paid £650 of useless insurance.

I mean yes the dealership have been crap but it's been 3 years. You've insured it 3 times. If this was the first couple of weeks I'd think fair cop but ultimately you've been insuring a car that's different to yours for 3 years, and not noticed

It is upsetting and you have been lucky, phew. I would v much put it in the dealerships court. To make you feel better I once worked with someone who discovered her driving license details were wrong, and she had not been properly insured for over 20 years! The code on her license was for automatic only, but it should have been for manual too.

The two registrations ARE the exact same model yes. So someone is driving around with our plates and has not realised. The garage would definitely have let us know, if they realised this.

So we’re not alone in not noticing.

Thanks again, off to put the kids to bed now.

I feel much calmer now and feeling gratitude that we had this interaction with the police. Thank goodness we did.

It’s also a big wake up call that we need to check life admin more closely from now on. Not trust others and I need to check what my husband is receiving as I think that’s the root cause of it. We just never get the time to sit down and look through paperwork together 😊

Thanks @LifesTooShortForYourNonsense that’s reassuring!

I really don’t understand what has happened because surely if the police ran the reg number the car would’ve come up as insured?

The same thing happened to be when I bought my car, there was a W instead of an M. I didn’t notice, it was picked up by the garage when it went in for an MOT but that was a good 6 months later. The dealership wouldn’t even pay the cost of having the new/correct plates made 🙄

Our insurance is in the wrong license number

Police said car not on the system registered to my DH. Not sure what’s missing in the story?

He said our insurance would be invalid because it’s registered to the plate number, which is wrong.

@Miniroofbox I guess they checked the vehicle system, not the insurance system? I dunno?

I just put my car reg into an insurance quote generator with the last letter changed to the one before it in the alphabet and, sure enough, exact same make, model and colour car came up.

OP, were the police OK for you to drive home once they confirmed the car was uninsured?

I love how MNtters assume the average Joe/Josephine has intimate knowledge of police checking systems. I’ve literally no idea and I don’t watch police proceedurals, so my knowledge is fairly limited!

@HaveringWavering yes we were very close to home

As someone previously mentioned in the thread, one of the first things I'd do whenever buying a new car is checking that the registration number on the V5 document matches what is on (both) plates.

The other thing I always do when taking out/renewing car insurance is typing my reg number into the askMID website soon after the new policy has started to double check it is insured.

Yes, I should be able to trust other people/companies/systems to get things correct, but I like to be absolutely sure. Both of these things take seconds to do.

@suk44 I will be consistently doing these checks from now on!!

It all makes sense except for how the police knew the plate was wrong?! They put in your registration and it comes up with the correct make and model, taxed, insured, MOT'd, but they still know it's wrong?

Not actually doubting you, just curious!

[quote BlueFairiesinthesky]@HaveringWavering yes we were very close to home[/quote]
Phew! Then they said don't drive again till insurance sorted?

It's a moot point as you didn't have an accident, but my job is related to the regulatory side of insurance and I think that there is a good chance you would still have been covered if you had had an accident, given that it was a genuine mistake by a third party.

I can fully believe this slipped through the net..

My Mum was driving around the UK for 15 YEARS on an invalid Rhodesian driving licence (yes, Rhodesian.. it was still Rhodesia when she lived there and got her driving licence there!).

It was spotted when she was asked to show a police traffic officer who initially stopped her because her tax disc wasn't displayed (had fallen on the floor).

She had to get a UK licence... which would mean she should have passed a UK driving test. She never did, somehow she just got it converted.

I am still a bit baffled though OP.. if the police ran your plates, has it flagged up that the car that IS actually that reg. no. isn't currently insured.

Otherwise if the other car that is actually the number your car is 'wearing' is the same make/model/colour... if it was insured it wouldn't flag (but if they ask for the keepers name that might raise a query when it doesn't match).

@suk44

As someone previously mentioned in the thread, one of the first things I'd do whenever buying a new car is checking that the registration number on the V5 document matches what is on (both) plates.

The other thing I always do when taking out/renewing car insurance is typing my reg number into the askMID website soon after the new policy has started to double check it is insured.

Yes, I should be able to trust other people/companies/systems to get things correct, but I like to be absolutely sure. Both of these things take seconds to do.

I think it makes a difference that the car was bought brand new- OP and her DH did not buy a specific car, just one of a part icular make and model. They would not have known the reg in advance, no ownership history to check, no reason to suspect dodgy dealing, no reason to think log book and plates would not match.

@BoomChicka I’m not sure... the police took my DH driving license off to the computer in the police car and came back saying we are registered to another care (1 digit different). I showed them our (wrong) insurance policy on my email (using my phone).

*registered to another car (DVLA tax - not insurance)

Whilst yes, an error has been made, it’s your car and ultimately you are responsibly for checking the documentation is correct and everything matches. You cannot solely blame the garage, you are as much to blame.

I have had half a dozen new cars from the garage. I have never once checked the registration plate matches the registration number. Why would I?

I assume they’ve let you off with a warning? If so, it’s pretty clear the police are in agreement that the fault lies largely with the dealership, rather than the OP.

@WiddlinDiddlin they stopped us because we were driving suspiciously in front of the local school. We really weren’t- just checking the entrance and parking for DD Rainbows starting next week.

They asked for my DH driving license so had his name.

which is really odd in itself confused I think they must have been really bored

They once stopped us because we were taking photos of the outside of a hospital, for my work.

I think it makes a difference that the car was bought brand new- OP and her DH did not buy a specific car, just one of a part icular make and model. They would not have known the reg in advance, no ownership history to check, no reason to suspect dodgy dealing

Whether it was a new car or not wouldn't make any difference as to whether I would take a few seconds checking the long book reg number matches the one on the car plates.

no reason to think log book and plates would not match

And this definitely wouldn't make any difference.

You can check a car on the Govenment MOT site.
Is it possible they did two card at the same time and your number plates were swapped?
Also when you insured it the make and model come up, so it must show there...