At Last, Electronic Insurance Certificates to Be Available

In this day and age, when everything from applying for a passport to ordering your weekly supermarket shopping can be done online, it has become an increasing source of frustration for motorists to learn that their car insurance documents still have to be sent by post. The unreliability of our postal system, particularly during strikes such as the one last year, has caused problems for many.

Now, after five years of discussions and negotiations, electronic delivery of insurance certificates is about to become a reality. The necessary Order was laid before Parliament on March 30th and the change in legislation will be finalized on April 20th.

At the heart of the protracted consultation period were concerns surrounding security but these have been addressed in a variety of ways, meaning that motorists can rest assured that the scope for fraud and identity theft has been minimized.

Insurance certificates will be delivered either by email attachment or by the motorist logging on to a password-protected account where the certificate can be retrieved and printed out if required. The only situations in which the certificate has to be produced physically are when buying a new car or when purchasing road tax at the Post Office. For motorists who do not have the internet, insurance companies will still deliver the certificate by post.

Not only will motorists benefit from the new system’s convenience but the industry will save over £10 million in printing and postage costs and the environment will of course benefit from the reduction in carbon emissions.