The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) today published the 2025 annual report of the Irish Motor Insurance Database (IMID), which gardaí can use to check the insurance status of vehicles.

In the first 24 months of using the database, gardaí have detained a total of 38,546 vehicles for breaking the law by driving without insurance.

Some 51,024 charges and summons have been issued to those who were apprehended for driving without insurance in that period, with 25,009 of those charges and summons occurring in 2025.

As of the end of 2025, the database includes more than 4.5 million valid driver numbers and details of more than 3.6 million vehicles, with more to be added over the coming months as additional policy renewals occur.

However, the MIBI has warned that thousands of fleet vehicles are still missing despite a legal obligation on fleet owners and motor traders to ensure these are uploaded to an IMID subsection called the National Fleet Database (NFD).

The insurance body says it will work with An Garda Síochána and other stakeholders this year to improve compliance.

Commenting on today’s report, David Fitzgerald, CEO of the MIBI, said: “We are very pleased to see the contribution and impact that IMID is making towards law enforcement.

“Driving without insurance is against the law and it has been a problem in this country for quite a while. That is why IMID was set up — to make it easier for An Garda Síochána to identify those who are breaking the law.

“So it is very pleasing to see that more than 38,000 vehicles have been seized by the gardaí since we began using this system and over 51,000 charges and summons have been issued during that same period.

“IMID allows the gardaí to identify uninsured vehicles in seconds and that has changed the whole uninsured policing picture completely. Fake insurance certs or suggestions of mistaken identity can no longer be used by drivers to try to get away with breaking the law.

“In fact, the addition of driver numbers to IMID since last March has made it a waste of breath for drivers to even try the mistaken identity angle, with every driver number being tied to one specific individual for life.

“We are very pleased to see IMID now includes more than 4.5 million validated driver numbers and we expect that number to grow even further over the coming months.

“One note of concern though relates to fleet and motor trader vehicles. We believe there are still a significant number of individuals that are yet to fulfil their obligations to add their vehicles to the National Fleet Database section of IMID, and who, as a result are breaking the law.

“We hope to work with An Garda Síochána and other IMID stakeholders this year to target that group and to remind all offenders that if you do not meet your legal motor insurance obligations you face the real risk of being prosecuted, a process that IMID has made easier than ever for the gardaí.”