Why Have The Done Away With The Paper Copy Of An Mot?

[Quenched]

Had my car MOT today. 

Luckily it passed with only an advisory due to a slight crack in the passenger side wing mirror. 

 

But when I went to collect the car, I said to the guy in the MOT centre, where is my MOT certificate, and he said we have gone paperless, and all the details are online. 

 

I'm thinking but I'm planning on selling the car soon, but I won't have a certificate to show the potential buyer. Of course as a buyer I like to see if there are any advisories I need to worry about before buying it. 

 

How can someone pull up these details online if its just a private sale?

 

Or am I missing something here? 

[barry1010]

There is no defence for driving after your insurance has been cancelled or deemed void.

It is an absolute offence - you were either driving with insurance or you weren't.

A bit of paper doesn't change the fact that it is no longer valid.

[Quenched]

ToraToraTora, 

I don't know what went wrong with the 2nd direct debt, but it was all set up correctly at the time is all I know, and they are legitimate people, not wishing to fleece anyone, yet found themselves in hot water.

 

Like I was saying earlier doesn't this support my argument we now as modern society rely far too much on the online way of business and just assume everything is taken care of, when evidence shows its not all the time. 

 

Everyone has hectic lives today, how many check regularly all these things?

 

I grew up in the 70's thinking My God one day technology will one day make our lives easier and with less stress. My God how wrong was I? 

[THECORBYLOON]

Perhaps if your friend had checked his or her direct debits earlier, the problem would have been spotted and rectified.

I would have thought the insurance company would have contacted your friend about it anyway.

It's not unknown for folk to pay by direct debit, receive the letter or e-mail confirming the insurance and then stop paying.

There was a police programme on a few month ago where a car was stopped for no insurance.

Driver said he paid by direct debit and had proof on his 'phone. The police checked and his direct debits had been stopped so no insurance.

He had also been stopped for the same reason two or three day before and gave the same story but the police didn't check his story then so he ended up being charged for two insurance offences.

[ToraToraTora]

22:26 rubbish, online or not doesn't matter, DDs have been around a lot longer than the common use of the net. You are trying to blame anyone but the true purps of this.

Insurance is an annual contract, they only let you pay monthly as a concession yet many abuse this and expect to get away with it. If a DD bounces there is notification and charges, they MUST have known. Yet they continued to drive knowing they were not insured. That's the facts.

[calmck]

Here we pay car insurance anually and receive a renewal note by email 6 weeks before the due date.

[barry1010]

How many times do you need to be told that a printed insurance certificate would not have helped your friend in that scenario.

Had this happened years ago, before online banking and digital documents, he would still have been in trouble. 

He was lucky he was stopped by police.  Much worse to find out your insurance has been cancelled when your car has been written off in an accident.

[Quenched]

ToraToraTora, 

Trust me I know these people well, and they wouldn't flout the rules at all. 

 

All I know is there was a technical issue with the 2nd or 3rd direct debt, but they were not contacted by anyone to alert them. 

 

But the insurance company immediately made their car insurance void. 

 

All I'm saying is in my opinion there should be something in place to protect motorists like that, because how many people have got caught out in the same way, where they are unknowingly uninsured. 

 

A simple phone call from their insurance company could have saved so much hardship. My old car insurance company used to ring me a few weeks before my insurance needed renewing, but we we're living in a simpler era then, when humans actually talked to people. Not like it is now everything is online. Even banking. 

[ToraToraTora]

mate you've been told the score half a dozen times by several different people. It doesn't seem to penetrate. Enjoy your delusion.

[THECORBYLOON]

I get an e-mail reminder a few week before my car insurance runs out.

It is sent automatically and doesn't rely on someone making a 'phone call to the correct number and my answering it.

[barry1010]

I changed my bank recently and forgot to update the details on one of my regular payments. I got an email and a text to tell me they couldn't take payment. 

Your friend would have been told about the missed payment(s)

[bednobs]

some years ago i had insurane cancelled under similar circumstances. they sent me a registered letter 

[Quenched]

I'm assuming by the responces you all don't believe this story.

 

The direct debt was definitely not cancelled in this case.  And no one contacted them, so how the heck would they know that they were not insured?

 

Admittedly it was some cheap tacky online car insurance company, but how the hell are companies allowed to just randomly cancel a person's car insurance due to a direct debt issue rendering them illegal?  It's just not on is it?

 

They were even threatened to have their car crushed, I know the persons well and they were in a real bad state, brought to tears and everything. 

 

Ok fair enough a paper copy wouldn't have saved them, but my point now is surely there should be something in place to protect a motorist in this situation. 

 

Its not like they didn't take out any insurance is it? 

[Quenched]

Honestly I am being serious, hence I would not have bothered with sharing this story. 

 

This person WAS NOT CONTACTED ABOUT IT!!!

So was unknowingly driving around for weeks with no insurance. 

[THECORBYLOON]

"And no one contacted them, so how the heck would they know that they were not insured?"

Checking their bank account to  direct debit had been made, perhaps?

[THECORBYLOON]

...Checking their bank account to make sure their direct debit had been made, perhaps?

[Quenched]

THECORBYLOON, 

Not sure everyone checks their bank account regularly though, I certainly don't as everything is direct debt, which is supposed to ease people with paying things in other methods, or actually bothering to remind them of paying bills. 

 

Thats what we were always told by banks, they used to encourage paying things by direct debt. 

But this was actually pre Internet days, but probably the first step of not needing the need to physically visit banks anymore. 

 

Then online banking was the nail in the coffin for banks as we know them. 

[Quenched]

What I mean is the ironic point of direct debt is so we don't have to remember to pay bills.

 

So how ironic is it that when a missed payment happens it causes a person to drive around uninsured?? 

[THECORBYLOON]

You asked, "how the heck would they know...?" as if it were a major task to carry out.

It was your friend's responsibility to ensure he or she was insured to drive and if he or she cannot be bothered to make sure the direct debit has gone through, then that is his or her choice and he or she has to accept the consequences.

Continuing to mump about it is not going to change that responsibility.

[DDIL]

Round and round the garden like a ???

[Quenched]

THECORBYLOON, 

 

But I thought the whole idea of a direct debt was so we dont have to remember to pay a bill. That's how the banks were portraying direct debt all those years ago. 

I think the slogan was something like (Take the worry out of paying bills)

 

I get paid monthly, but I don't bother to check monthly that everything is running smoothly. I always assume if someone or company isn't being paid they would soon let me know.

 

But this car insurance company didn't notify the person, but cancelled their insurance instead. But to me that is wrong and pretty serious.