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 would definitely always check but then I buy old cars and I wouldn’t want to be sold a ringer.

Say you're checking insurance / tax online :
What does the Gov.Uk site say when you type in the registration on the licence plate?

Does it come up?

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?

So you can be 100% sure you won't be in the same position as the OP..

@BoredZelda

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.

We were stopped once driving through Lincoln because we were a bit lost and presumably looked dodgy.

Makes sense though,
OP and her DH looked suspicious.
Police pull car and ask driver for ID and who car is registered to
DH says 'Me' Police run check and say 'No, it's not'
The whole mistake is revealed.

Not sure what's suspicious at all about that story. She wasn't pulled for no insurance, they were pulled as they looked a bit iffy and further checks revealed the error.

@BoredZelda

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.

That's good. Taking photos of buildings where members of the public congregate, and/or are part of national infrastructure, like a hospital, falls within 'suspicious behaviour that could be related to terrorism' so they were just doing their job.

As someone who has worked in insurance claims/complaints etc for donkeys years, every insurer I have worked for would have indemnified you.
Yes, it would have been a palaver but they would have. As long as it was the same make, model and posed the same risk they would have.

@SpiderinaWingMirror that’s good to know

@BlueFairiesinthesky

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 😊

Wait. So you said the dealership was completely at fault. Now it’s your husband who is completely at fault?!?

Everyone involved has some of the blame.

To be fair op which ever one of you is doing whatever bit of admin should be checking it properly. You shouldn’t have to check what your husband is doing.

@TheWeatherWitch

How?

I put my car number into an online insurance company, it tells me the make, vehicle, year and even the colour of my car. Same if you go into an insurance brokers or phone them.

How the fuck have you managed to insure your white Honda Civic for the last three years when the vehicle registration is for a Massey Ferguson tractor or a black BMW what ever?

A friend of ours replaced his accident damaged car with one the same make and colour and one up number but rest of reg the same.

The exact same thing happened to us recently. It took us three years to realise an X was showing as a K.

The dealership were mortified and turned up on my doorstep within the hour of being informed with new number plates and a toolbox and fitted them immediately.

That's good. Taking photos of buildings where members of the public congregate, and/or are part of national infrastructure, like a hospital, falls within 'suspicious behaviour that could be related to terrorism' so they were just doing their job.

This was in 1999, long before everyone got twitchy about every single thing and used “terrorism” as an excuse.

I’ve been driving for a long time and I’ve never got the tax paperwork or the log book and walked to my car and physically compared it to the number plate on the car.

I don’t understand why people are giving the OP a hard time here.

@BoredZelda

That's good. Taking photos of buildings where members of the public congregate, and/or are part of national infrastructure, like a hospital, falls within 'suspicious behaviour that could be related to terrorism' so they were just doing their job.

This was in 1999, long before everyone got twitchy about every single thing and used “terrorism” as an excuse.

Have you heard of The Troubles?

I’ve been driving for a long time and I’ve never got the tax paperwork or the log book and walked to my car and physically compared it to the number plate on the car.

Nobody is saying that someone has to do this, and the original mistake was clearly the dealers, but taking the 10 seconds to do this would've avoided this situation. Yes we all should rely on other people/systems being accurate, but sometimes the belt and braces approach has its benefits, hence why someone people will do it.

Have you heard of The Troubles?

Other than “unattended bag” still not a major issue here in Scotland where there wasn’t a single IRA bombing. We didn’t shit ourself every time someone coughed the wrong way.

Yes we all should rely on other people/systems being accurate, but sometimes the belt and braces approach has its benefits, hence why someone people will do it.

There are things we should check and things that if we spent our lives checking, we’d never have time to do anything else. We have a motability car now, we don’t even get the reg document, should we phone and check the right number is on the car?

@BoredZelda

Have you heard of The Troubles?

Other than “unattended bag” still not a major issue here in Scotland where there wasn’t a single IRA bombing. We didn’t shit ourself every time someone coughed the wrong way.

The poster could have been anywhere?

@DobbyTheHouseElk

I’ve been driving for a long time and I’ve never got the tax paperwork or the log book and walked to my car and physically compared it to the number plate on the car.

I don’t understand why people are giving the OP a hard time here.

Me neither! Whoop de woo for all those with superior knowledge. Frankly I wouldnt have done more than a superficial check of the reg against the log book when I picked up a new car.

My extremely dyslexic husband would certainly not pick up numbers switched around or one letter different. He was forever being fined when we were dating as he would put the wrong car reg in the machines outside my house.

The poster could have been anywhere?

But I was in Scotland.

@Whataplonkerheis Thank you for replying and sharing your experience. We’re feeling pretty silly for not noticing, but I do still think it goes both ways. I’m reassured we’re not the only ones it’s happened to! Hopefully our dealership will be as helpful as yours were.

Me neither! Whoop de woo for all those with superior knowledge. hmm Frankly I wouldnt have done more than a superficial check of the reg against the log book
But that one thing alone would've been enough.

@Nocutenamesleft Yep I agree- everyone takes some of the blame. We’re only human and I am allowed to develop in my thinking. We’re not in a court of law, it’s a discussion forum. Perhaps practice a little more grace?

[quote BlueFairiesinthesky]@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.[/quote]
And that's the missing bit of the story, you weren't stopped because something flagged up via any kind of ANPR system.

If you'd explained that in your OP it would have avoided all the posts from people questioning what had happened

There are things we should check and things that if we spent our lives checking, we’d never have time to do anything else.

Therefore you prioritise the few things that would be most important to you. For some taking ownership of a brand new car costing potentially many thousands would be one of those things.