Rod

Can I check if someone actually has insurance on their car by just having their license plate number? I got into a little accident last night and a police report was written up, but they didn't have proof of insurance with them so the cop left this blank. They don't want to go through their insurance company and rather pay to fix my car themselves, but I just want to make sure they have insurance and haven't been able to contact them so far. So do you think if I go somewhere, like a tag agency, with the police report that they will be able to give me the insurance information for this car? I don't want to have to contact my insurance compnay if I don't have to.

mrdeeno

the tag agency would have to go to the state's database to get the info. most tag agencies probably don't have access to this stuff because they don't have the equipment, and also if they could, they may not want to provide the information to anyone besides law enforcement or the state.

BUT if he canceled the insurance himself, then the state would still show he had insurance.

this happened to me 3 years ago. dude cut me off while i was on my motorcycle and i crashed. he said he would pay for it because it only looked like a couple hundred dollars in damages and that he was in a hurry. i insisted and called the cops. cops came, got insurance and license info.

later on, i got an estimate on the bike and turns out there was over $3k in damages due to frame damage (bike was pretty much declared totalled, even though it didn't look it).

so instead of going to him, i called his insurance company...turns out that HE cancelled his insurance 9 months ago. if he is cancelled due to non-payment or something, the the ins. co. sends a copy of the cancellation to the state so they can follow up and make sure he gets insurance, otherwise they would suspend his registration. but if HE cancels it, they don't send a letter to the state, so the state doesn't konw that he doesn't have insurance.

your best bet is to go to the police and insist you need the insurance information to make a claim and have them get it. for all we know, they could've run his plate already and it showed that he had insurance whether he actually does or not because of what i explained above.

my new rule from now on...i'm going to verify that the other party has insurance or not at the scene of the accident (my aunt owns a brokerage and i can get #s for other companies from her)...that way the police will KNOW whether they have insurance or not while they are at the scene.

Fl-TypeS

You can't get someone's insurance information or lack thereof with their tag number in Florida. Given that Miami has one of the highest uninsured motorist popluations in the country, there is a good chance the other party did not have coverage. I would continue to attempt to contact the other driver and if you are unsuccessful, you may have to submit it to your insurance carrier. If the damages are not that significant, it may not be worth submitting to your insurance if you have a high deductible. Also, if you are unable to contact the other driver, you can show up at his citation hearing and let the judge/magistrate know that he was uninsured. The judge/magistrate will have the discretion to award restitution to compensate you for your damages.

mrdeeno

the problem with that is that even if someone caused an accident, that does not always mean the cop issued a citation.

to me, it sounds like the cop did not issue a citation in this case because he did not get the insurance information (you know the line, "license, insurance, and registration, please...").

if you can't get in touch with this guy, you should go to the police dept. to get them to get the insurance information from the guy or cite him for failure to provide proof of insurance (if you have insurance, get pulled over, but don't have the ins. card, they give you time to provide it (10 days in PA i think)...if you don't provide it in the given time, they can still cite you for failure to provide).

if you can't get in touch with him, write a letter with a copy of the estimate to him, send it to him certified and give him a couple days to respond. if he still doesn't, file a civil case against him. if he doesn't show, you win by default.

if he doesn't pay in the given time, you can put a lien against him (like when a bank puts a lien against you...it shows on your credit report) and even file to have his belongings siezed for public auction to pay you what he owes.

that's what i did. the law varies a little from state to state, but i'm pretty sure you have the same routes you can take.

Rod

Thanks for the replies, I didn't think tag agencies would be allowed to release this info. But I contacted them tonight and everything seems to be legit, we'll see tomorrow when I get an estimate on the damages and go through all the other little hassles.

Rod

The cop did issue two citations to the other driver, one for the trafic violation and the other for not having proof of insurance. Everything seems to be legit up to know though, I hope it is. I guess I just got a bit paranoid, and hopefully that's all it is, since I know how most people in Miami are from experience.

kensteele

You are paranoid rightfully so. The insurance industry is the one of the biggest scams, on both sides. You would be amazed at the total number of uninsured motorists, underinsured motorists, unpaid claims, fraud, etc. Don't let it cost you.