Q: What is "Compare and Amend"?
A: Compare and Amend is a technique recommended by the MIIC,
the body managing the overall Motor Insurance Database project, which allows
end users (i.e. policyholders) to send their complete vehicle schedule time
after time, without having to identify the changes. This should simplify life
for these users - for most policyholders, it will be simple to create a
spreadsheet once and then maintain it as a list of vehicles on cover and send
it, as and when it changes, to the MDS web site.
Q: Is there a need for a digital certificate or special
software to be installed on my system to send this data?
A: No, as long as your system can produce a file in the
correct format, and has access to the Internet, this data transmission method
will work.
Q: What vehicles should I include?
A: You should include all vehicles that you currently expect
to drive under the Insurance Policy you have in place, excluding plant and
machinery. If you wish to send Plant (i.e. vehicles without Vehicle
Registration Numbers) you should insert the word "Plant" as the vehicle type.
These records will NOT be sent to the MID but will be included on Declarations
sent by the Broker to your Insurer.
Q: Is my data secure during transmission and after it is
sent?
A: All Internet links to MDS's system (MIDAS) are encrypted
using 128-bit encryption based on the standard Verisign SSL method. If your
computer does not support this encryption, please email us at support@motordatasolutions.co.uk.
Q: How do we remove a vehicle from MDS?
A: There are two ways - either simply omit it from the file of vehicles, and
the MDS system will remove it from the database by setting the "Off Date" to
the date the file was received, or send it with the "Off Date" filled in.
Q: Can we set the "Off Date" to a future date?
A: Yes
Q: When should I start sending data? Can I test?
A: The MDS web site is available now. If you want to test
your transmissions, send an email to support@motordatasolutions.co.uk
with your organisation name and telephone number and we will set you up with an
account. Should you wish to have a different username in future to send "live"
data rather than test data, you can always apply to us for a new location.
Please note that the MID itself is not live until September 2002 so your data
will not be visible to the Police until then.
Q: I'd like to be able to extract from my vehicle management
system to a CSV file to then include in Excel, but my software supplier is
unable to make all the changes in time for me to send my data by the 20th
January 2003 (the date the legislation comes in to force). What should I do?
A: It is a legal requirement that the data is sent by that
date, and then kept up to date. MDS can provide you with manual "work around"
solutions which we have made available to Brokers. Please contact your broker
for further information.
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