How to Get a New Insurance Card

Because you must prove you are carrying insurance (by law), knowing how to get a new insurance card is pretty important.

If you have lost your insurance card from your auto documents, get it replaced as soon as you can.

Insurance, specifically liability insurance, is required to be able to drive in all states. If you were to ever get pulled over for any reason, one of the things that the police officer will ask you for is proof of insurance.

This proof of insurance is the insurance card that your insurance company provides for you when you first get your insurance and also at each renewal. It provides your basic insurance information and the dates of your current insurance term to show that you purchased insurance for a certain time period. So if you have lost your insurance card you need to find out how to get a new insurance card.

Ask for a New Card

If at any time you have lost or misplaced your insurance card you can contact your insurance company or agent to get a new insurance card. Depending on the procedures of the company there are three ways that you will be getting a replacement card. First, your agent may make you a temporary card that has your information typed into a pre-set form.

Second, the insurance company will mail you a replacement card via snail mail. Third, if you are registered with your insurance company through their website that allows you to access all of your policy information, there should be an option to print out a replacement verification of insurance from here.

Use Your Declarations Page Instead

An insurance card is not the only way to provide proof of insurance so if you can’t figure out how to get a new insurance card from your insurance company or agent, use your declarations page from your insurance policy instead. This has all of the information that you would need to provide anyone that requires proof that you have insurance. In fact, it provides much more information than your insurance card does and actually much more than anyone would need to know.

Because of the large amount of information that is on your declarations page, do not under any circumstances allow anyone that you have been in an accident with see your declarations page. This information will provide them with your limits of liability and if they or their attorney try to sue you, they will know how much they can go up to for your insurance to cover it.

If you are in an accident and you only have your declarations page as your proof of insurance, you can write down or tell the other person the basic information (your policy number, name, insurance company and the insurance company’s phone number) as this is really the only information that they need to know.

What Happens If I Don’t Have My Insurance Card?

If you have not replaced your insurance card and are pulled over by a police officer, you will be cited for not having proof of insurance or not having insurance (depending on your state). Don’t just pay the fine, you can go to court and if you provide proof that you had insurance at the time that you were pulled over usually the ticket is dropped.  Again, the process depends on the state, but it is just best to always have that proof of insurance with you.