How To Check if a Vehicle Has Auto Insurance Coverage (2024)

Not sure how to check if a vehicle has auto insurance coverage? Checking auto insurance coverage is relatively simple, and it is important to ensure you or another driver isn’t driving without auto insurance.  

Generally, you can check if a car is insured if you have the right information, such as driver and vehicle information.

Continue reading to learn more about the steps you need to take to check car insurance validity on a vehicle. If you don’t have insurance on your car, then you can use our free quote comparison to get started on finding affordable coverage right away. 

How to Verify Auto Insurance Coverage 

To verify car insurance coverage for another driver, you will need to collect relevant driver and vehicle information. It could be helpful to involve the police for help with insurance verification if you were in an accident. Once you have the information, you can use a reputable site to perform an insurance car check. 

Gather Driver and Vehicle Information Before Verifying Auto Insurance 

When checking if someone else’s car is insured, you will need to gather the relevant information from the other driver. You will need to know the following information when checking car insurance validity: 

• Basic contact information of the driver 
• Driver’s license number 
• Insurance company, if applicable 
• License plate number of car
• Vehicle identification number (VIN) 

Without this information, you won’t be able to find out if a car has insurance or not. In cases where you can’t gather information after an accident, especially in cases of hit-and-runs, it is best to call the police and have a crash report on hand when filing claims. This will help ensure your claim is approved by adding validity to your claim, even if you don’t have the other driver’s information. 

Learn more: How To File an Auto Insurance Claim

If you have the driver and vehicle information, make sure you have all the information ready beforehand if you call someone like an auto insurance company to verify coverage. This will ensure the process goes smoothly, and you won’t have to scramble to find information when speaking to someone. In the next section, we’ve covered all the places you can check to verify car insurance coverage once you have your information ready to go.  

Verify Auto Insurance Coverage at a Reputable Site 

You can check auto insurance coverage on someone else’s car in a few different ways. The different sources you can use to check insurance on a car are as follows: 

• Contact the police. If you are in an accident and the other driver isn’t willingly offering their information, you should call the police to come and record the driver’s information and check insurance coverage, as this will help your claim. Learn more: Can I file an insurance claim without a police report?
• Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). You can ask the DMV to verify insurance coverage, but bear in mind you will need a police report of the crash to prove you have a valid reason to check another driver’s coverage. 
• Insurance company. If you have the insurance company’s name, you can call them and ensure that the driver’s insurance is still active. 

We want to note that if you live in the U.K., you will need to use the Motor Insurance Beauru’s askMID service instead to see if a driver has insurance in place of the DMV. You will need to know the vehicle registration number you want to check, and you may have to pay a small fee for the information. 

Verifying Auto Insurance on Your Own Car 

Sometimes drivers want to verify coverage on their own vehicles if they are worried their coverage has lapsed. If your coverage has lasped, make sure you check out our list of the best auto insurance companies that don’t penalize for a lapse in coverage. The good news is that when verifying insurance coverage on your own vehicle, the process is much easier than checking someone else’s insurance coverage. 

To verify auto insurance on a car you own, you can either call your insurance company or sign into your online account and verify that your insurance coverage is still active. If you are calling, you will need your basic information, as well as your policy number. If you are logging in, you will just need your login information. 

When to Verify Auto Insurance Coverage 

There are several reasons drivers may want to check for auto insurance coverage. Some of the situations where you should check auto insurance coverage are as follows: 

• When borrowing a car. If you are borrowing a car, check to ensure it has the required auto insurance coverages before driving. 
• When you are a business owner with company cars. If employees are driving company cars, you must ensure they have car insurance coverage. 
• When divorcing. If you are splitting the cars after a divorce, make sure you keep an auto insurance policy on whichever car you have. 
• When driving students. If a parent is driving students, you must check that they have auto insurance coverage. 
• When in an accident with another driver. If you are in an accident with another driver, you must verify each other’s car insurance coverage. Read more: Whose insurance do I call after an accident?
• When worried your coverage lapsed. If you are worried your coverage lapsed after a missed payment or something similar, you should check your coverage. 

If you meet any of the above situations, you should check for auto insurance by calling the insurance company or DMV. The last thing you want is to get caught driving illegally without insurance or have an uninsured motorist driving one of your cars. 

The Final Word on Verifying Auto Insurance Coverage 

Verifying car insurance coverage requires gathering driver and vehicle information and using a reputable site. Auto insurance verification can be useful to get the police involved if you want to do an insurance check on cars because you were in an accident with other drivers. If you are checking your car insurance coverage, you can simply call your insurance company or sign into your online account. 

If you are looking for new car insurance coverage to protect you out on the road, use our free quote comparison tool. It will help you find the best auto insurance rates in your area.