You may be able to check the status of a driver’s car insurance status in Texas
under certain circumstances, such as if you were involved in an accident and need to make a claim with their insurance company. Having an accident report filed can help you with your case if you need to track down more information to make a claim with the other driver’s provider. After a car accident
, it’s important to exchange information with other drivers involved, including names and addresses, vehicle registration
information, license plate numbers, and of course, car insurance
information. Unfortunately, not everyone has sufficient car insurance, and not everyone provides truthful information—and others still might not be willing to provide any at all.So, what happens if another driver refuses to give that information to you—or drives off before you have a chance to ask for it? How are you supposed to make a claim with their insurance if they were at fault?
Here’s what to know about checking a driver’s car insurance status in Texas.
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4.7/5 rating on the App Store | Trusted by 5+ million customers and 7 million cars4.7/5 app rating | Trusted by 5M+ drivers Can you check another driver’s car insurance status in Texas?
You would need a valid reason to check the status of another driver’s car insurance in Texas. Ideally, you and any other drivers involved in an accident will have exchanged car insurance information, including:
The name of the insurance provider
Contact information for the insurance provider
If you were involved in an accident and had enough information about the other driver, but you later realize their insurance information is falsified
, you might be able to inquire about the status of the other driver’s insurance with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
. Having a police report or accident report filed after a collision should help you with your case, and so will any information you were able to gather about other vehicle owners at the scene.
Additionally, if law enforcement responded to your accident when it occurred, the other driver involved presumably would have needed to provide proof of insurance
, meaning the police officer(s) at the scene may be able to provide you with additional information about the other driver’s car insurance status, which can help you determine how you’ll need to proceed. If you were able to get even just partial information from the other driver, you might still have enough to be able to contact the insurance provider and locate the correct policy so you can make a claim
. If you still find yourself running into difficulties, your own car insurance agent may be able to provide you with additional guidance.
If you discover the other driver doesn’t meet Texas’s minimum car insurance requirements
, it’s possible you could file a lawsuit to recover applicable damages if necessary, in which case it might be a good idea to seek out legal counsel for next steps. What is TexasSure?
TexasSure
is an auto insurance verification tool initiated by the state of Texas. It’s aimed at reducing the number of uninsured drivers on state roads—and the number of headache-inducing scenarios that can happen as a result.TexasSure operates as a partnership among the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR).
Various government departments use the database to identify car owners who don’t have sufficient car insurance coverage. It’s worth noting, though, that this vehicle insurance verification database won’t include information on out-of-state vehicles
. How does TexasSure work?
After you set up a car insurance policy with your new provider, they’ll report your insurance information to the TexasSure database. Then, the database will match that policy to vehicles registered with the Texas DMV.
To make sure your vehicle is properly identified in the system, you’ll want to verify that all of the following details on your auto insurance policy and your vehicle registration are correct:
Your vehicle identification number (VIN)
If you do catch any errors, you’ll need to contact your insurance provider or the DMV to have them corrected.
MORE: How to get car insurance online
Who uses TexasSure?
TexasSure can only be accessed by Texas vehicle registration offices, tax assessors, and law enforcement, who use the database to identify uninsured motorists
. Insurance providers regularly provide updated information to TexasSure, but they can’t access the database themselves.
What kind of car insurance do you need in Texas?
Texas law requires you to carry a minimum amount of car insurance coverage. As a Texas driver, your car insurance policy must include, at minimum:
$60,000 of bodily injury liability insurance per accident
This liability coverage will cover others’ damages and injuries, but it won’t cover damage to your own vehicle. That’s why it’s also a good idea to consider collision
and comprehensive coverage
. Additionally, personal injury protection (PIP)
can help cover expenses like your own medical costs and lost wages if you’re injured in an accident—regardless of who’s at fault. Uninsured/underinsured motorist
coverage can also help you in the event that you’re unable to get the insurance information you need from another driver, or if they don’t have sufficient coverage.What are the penalties for driving without insurance in Texas?
When the circumstances are severe enough, the penalties that come with not having the minimum car insurance coverage required by state law can end up costing you more than an insurance premium would in the first place.
For a first offense, you could be forced to pay a fine of $175 to $350.
For subsequent offenses, the consequences get more severe. You could face a fine of $350 to $1,000 as well as vehicle impoundment, driver’s license suspension, registration suspension, and more.
Additionally, once driving without insurance is recorded on your Texas driving record
, insurance companies could deem you a higher risk to insure, which could drive up your insurance rates significantly for the foreseeable future. RECOMMENDEDNo spam or unwanted phone calls · No long forms
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