Do Americans carry around their car insurance documents?

30 comments

1. What if you hit another vehicle? Does that random, non law enforcement person have access to this database?

2. It’s required. At the very least, if you get pulled over and don’t have it, you’re going to have to bring it to the police station to get that citation removed. Assuming they’re willing. We just carry the thing — either in your wallet or in your car.

3. You are given awallet sized card with your insurance information on it.

4. I’m sure I have the paper version somewhere, but I know where my phone app is.

5. Most insurance documents are digital now, so I don’t keep a paper copy in the car. Prior to digital documents, there was a always a paper copy in my glove compartment.

   If you’re in a crash, it allows you to easily exchange insurance information with the other driver, and you may not have to involve the police depending on the severity of the accident. Also, if you get pulled over, the law requires you to provide proof of insurance, and it’s a pain to make a trip to a police station to provide this proof if you don’t have a copy.

6. Yes. As TheBimpo noted, our privacy and ID laws are different here.

   Our auto insurance provider gives my husband and me the option to print a little certificate of coverage with the insurance details for each car when we renew our policy. I just pop those in the glove box of each car with the registration certificate and then don’t think about it again until it’s time to replace those with updated documents. We could also keep digital copies on our phones if we wanted.

7. We do keep them in the vehicle (or on your phone in an app/digital wallet, I haven’t used a physical card in years).

   While this all varies by state, police generally do not have access to an insurer’s active customer database. Some states have you provide insurance information when you register your plates or get new tabs yearly. Some states keep/access a database of uninsured drivers.

   So *how* police verifies can vary all the way from they have the info up immediately when you’re pulled over from your plates and quick verify it at your window, others have to verify the info directly.

   In my experience they’ve always just taken a quick look at the card in the app, saw it valid, and that was that.

8. >Whenever I see a video of someone being pulled over they’re asked for their licence and insurance.

   That’s been accurate every time I’ve been pulled over. The one time I got pulled over and didn’t have current insurance info wasn’t a big deal though, the cop said he could see in his database I was current anyway.

9. I was wondering about this myself and a few seconds google search came up with this page that answers everything.

   https://www.autoinsurance.org/where-are-the-two-insurance-cards-for-an-auto-supposed-to-be-carried/

10. In the US, you are required to have proof of insurance with you while driving.

    If you’re pulled over and can’t prove that you are insured, it’s at least a citation, if not a license suspension.

11. Huh! The comments are interesting for sure. I don’t think I’ve carried my proof of insurance for years. Lol I guess I should be looking online. But I was actually pulled over maybe a year ago for my way to dark tinted windows. I handed the officer my license and registration and that was it. I remember telling him I could pull up my insurance if they wanted, but he didn’t seem interested. Actually told me they had access to that information. I’m not sure what they have access to, but it likely just says insurance is valid or not if it wasn’t. I guess this would vary by state and not all officers would have this information.

    Edit:Ok, looking in my glove box and I do have proof of insurance. It was just old.

12. You’re usually required to carry proof of insurance; in some states having it accessible on your phone is acceptable.

    Personally I think it’s a bit outdated when it comes to police – they can look it up based on your plate. It’s helpful to be able to show other drivers if there’s a collision, though.

13. It’s required in a lot of states because not all have a database with your insurance information. Even in Europe I have noticed some requirements for this. France requires some kind of insurance sticker on the windshield. You’ll notice it down towards the passenger side of the windshield.

14. in your car yes. i have it on my phone. and i think the papers are in my glove box

15. Most states require you to carry a card.

    Massachusetts does not. If your registration is active, your insurance is active. Both myself and a lot of people I know have had issues explaining this to cops from far and wide.

16. Ive been driving nearly 2 decades, its always been License and Registration.

17. In my state, you can be ticketed for driving without insurance. I got a ticket once and I had to go to the courthouse with my insurance card to get it all cleared.

18. Its required by law to be able to provide proof of insurance.
    Even if you are current, they can see on their database that may or may not be updated that your current. You can still receive a ticket for not having proof of insurance.

19. In Massachusetts it is required to have insurance in order to have your car registered, so your registration acts as proof of insurance. My insurance company still sends me digital and physical cards, but I don’t need them and couldn’t even tell you where they are right now.

20. There’s no national database for insurance. Georgia’s insurance database is accessible to police in Georgia, but I regularly drive out of state and don’t want to rely on an assumption that other states’ police have access to it, so I keep paper insurance documents with me.

    I also recently did a 1,200-mile/5-venue/4-state event called Hot Rod Power Tour, and you had to provide proof of insurance at event check in. A private organization wouldn’t have access to any insurance databases. Yeah, this is a niche case.

21. It is required here in New Jersey to be able to provide proof of insurance when driving an automobile. An insurance card or an insurers app is all that is necessary, not your entire policy…

22. In the US everything is done State by State when it comes to automotive documentation. Police in one State may not have easy access to your documents issued in another State. Hence the paper documentation that we carry around in the car.

23. Most people do, yes. It’s really not difficult to put a piece of paper in the glove box

24. What do you keep in your glovebox besides every copy of the registration, insurance, and inspection results you’ve ever gotten?

25. Yes, people normally keep it in the glove box of their car. You’re required to produce insurance documents if you’re pulled over. All it is is a wallet sized card with a barcode on it.

    It’s illegal to drive in the US without insurance.

26. In California (because like everything else, this varies from State to State), you’re required to carry ~~physical~~ proof of insurance in case you get in a collision with another motorist. That way, you and the other motorist can easily exchange insurance information.

    If you’re pulled over, this is why police in California ask for your proof of insurance. *They* can easily check the DMV database to verify that you’re insured, but that law isn’t for *their* benefit.

    *EDIT* Another commenter pointed out that as of January 1st, 2023, digital proof of insurance also counts in California.

27. So OP, as an American who lives in the UK, the US doesn’t have one “gov.uk” type website that keeps track of every car in the country, nor one police database. You have 50 different states issuing car registrations, 50 different car inspection regulation (plus cities), and about a million different police departments (local, state, national, highway), each of which have their own database. So it makes sense that you’d need to carry the info with you, because if you’re car is registered in Florida, but your license is from Georgia, but you’re on a road trip in Texas, if you have an accident or get pulled over, there’s no way to look you up without a card.

28. I have it on the app on my phone.

29. Mine are on an app on my phone. You’re required to have proof of insurance on you while driving in my state.

30. Traditionally, you were expected to keep small cards with your information on hand in case you needed to exchange it with someone or show proof of insurance.

    Now, it’s more likely to be an app, or at least a pic of the policy info on the phone. Police don’t have direct access to this information in the USA due to privacy concerns.