Car insurance cards are the compact version of your insurance policy and should be kept in your vehicle at all times to provide proof that you have valid insurance.

Not all proof of auto insurance comes in the form of a card.

A car insurance card is your verification of proof that you have insurance coverage in place on your vehicle and are carrying the minimum amount of insurance required by your state.

Insurance cards come in many different shapes and sizes and are needed for a wide array of reasons. But, one thing that is the same no matter what is that just like your driver’s license, you have to have it with you whenever you drive your vehicle.

What’s On an Insurance Card?

The front on an insurance card contains all of the important information that pertains to you and your coverage. It includes the name of the company that you are insured with, your vehicle information, the name of the person that holds the policy, policy number and your policy effective dates.

The back of the card can vary from company to company, but usually contains how to contact your insurance company with questions about your policy or how to file a claim. It could also list the steps that you need to go through in the event of accident, to keep everyone safe from any additional harm and to gather the information that you need for an insurance claim.

What Insurance Card?

Not every insurance company sends out an actual insurance card. The insurance card is simply proof of insurance and can take many forms; the phrase insurance card has just become a universal term for all small sized verifications of insurance.

Some companies provide two 4”x4” pieces of paper that are separated from the rest of the paperwork in the insurance packet. Others have a single insurance verification that is the same width as the rest of the insurance packet but only 1/3 the length. No matter the size, it is important to pull the verification out of the packet and keep it with you when you drive.

Why Do I Need a Car Insurance Card?

Your car insurance card is your proof that you have at least the minimum liability insurance that is required to be able to drive in your state. This verification is needed first and foremost in the case you are pulled over for a traffic violation. The officer that pulls you over is also going to check that you are carrying the minimum insurance on your vehicle or you will be getting a second ticket.

Insurance cards provide the needed information that needs to be exchanged with the other party in the case of a case accident. They are also required when you want to drive a vehicle that is not yours, such as test driving a new vehicle from a car lot or if you are renting a car.

Where Should I Keep My Card?

A good number of people keep their insurance card in their wallet thinking that this is the best place to put it as they always will have it with them. But what happens if you have multiple drivers in the house or you allow someone else to drive your vehicle?

Insurance coverage follows the vehicle you are insuring, not the driver so it is best to actually keep your insurance car with the vehicle.

How to get what you need when you call an auto insurance call center, not be treated as a hostile client and have your issues resolved without additional agitation.

Agents working in auto insurance call centers are people just like you.

We all have horror stories of being treated badly by someone on the other end of the phone when we call a company’s call center. But, call center agents have the same horror stories to tell about the clients that they have talked to. Here are some tips from a former auto insurance call center agent on how to get more from your phone call and not end up as one of the horror clients that they talk about.

1) Being Nice Could Save You Money

Call center agents are attached to their phones anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day and no matter how good at customer service they may be, all call center agents get tired and have a snapping point. If you call in and are immediately rude we do everything that we can to get you off the phone as quick as possible even if that means not offering any additional assistance that you may benefit from.

The nicer and more friendly you are with the person that you are talking to the more they will do to assist you, which could include offering you tips on how to save more on your insurance rates.

2) You Only Get One Warning

If your call takes a turn for the worse and you allow a certain category of explicatives to escape your lips, you will only be warned once to stop. Call center agents are here to help you with your insurance needs, not to be abused. If you insist on continuing to use these types of words you will be hung up and then will have to start over with the next person that you get on the phone.

In addition to being hung up on, you can almost be certain that the person you spoke to at the auto insurance call center will have put very detailed notes on your file as to the conversation that you had with them. Every person you speak to at that company from there on will read those notes and you will be treated as a hostile client every time you call in so it is best not to go down that road.

3) Keep It Short

Auto insurance call center agents are timed on everything. How long they are away from the phone if they need break, how long they take in between phone calls to finish up work and how long they take to help you. A good call center agent will help you until your problem is resolved and will not rush you through any call. But, as polite as they act they really don’t want to hear about your vacation, your kids, pets, entire insurance history and especially about any medical procedures that you have had or will have.

4) Ask for a Call Center Supervisor

If you are already upset before you even call, you need to immediately ask to speak to a supervisor. The first person that answers the phone generally cannot do anything for you and you will just get angrier if they attempt to help you and either doesn’t understand your problem or they end up defensive and argue with you.

Supervisors have usually been with the company longer and have dealt with all types of issues so they most likely can resolve your problem if it is reasonable. They are also paid more to handle upset callers and asking to speak to a supervisor also prevents you have having to tell your story more than once.

High rates, bad service, discounts not being applied, and unfulfilled claim contracts all tell you when to drop car insurance.

When an insurance companies doesn't live up to their end of the contract, it is time to drop car insurance.

Sometimes it is just easier to stay with an insurance company even when you are not happy. Finding a new company takes time and most people know very little about insurance so trying to make sure that that they have the right coverage for them can be a daunting task.

But when things get bad enough with your current carrier there are just certain times you need to know when to drop car insurance.

Drop Your Insurance When the Rates Get too High

Every six months your insurance premium seems to be creeping higher and higher. While it may only look like a little bit of an increase on this renewal compared to last renewal, how high has it gone up since you first started with this insurance company?

Maybe you have had a couple of tickets also or even an at-fault accident and now your rates have really jumped. If you have had enough of the rate increases, no matter what the cause may be, you can always start shopping around for rates with other insurance companies.

When you do shop around to get new quotes with other agents or right here on our site, make sure you are getting rates for the same coverages that you have right now so that you can see if you are really saving money or not with a new carrier. Also always keep your current coverage in place, just in case you can’t find a better rate. If you do find a new policy, purchase the new less expensive one and cancel your old more expensive one as soon as possible.

Drop Your Insurance When the Service is Bad

There is no excuse for bad service with an insurance company – it doesn’t matter if you are working through an agent or directly with the insurance company. If you are doing business with a company, you expect to be treated with respect and dignity because you are making it possible that they have income. So when the service is not what you expect it to be and is consistently bad no matter how much you complain, it may be time to move to a friendlier insurance company.

Drop Your Insurance over Discounts

Good driver, multi-car, multi policy and good student discounts are just some of the car insurance discounts available out there to decrease your insurance policy. If you are not sure if you have these discounts, talk to your agent.

Now, if your insurance company does not offer any discounts or says that they offer them and fails to provide them for you, this is when to drop car insurance.  Insurance companies are in the business to make money, but if they are doing so at your expense they do not deserve your money.

Drop Your Insurance When They Fail to Deliver

You purchase car insurance for one reason and one reason only, to be covered in the event of an accident. If you have had an accident and your insurance company does not follow through on its end of your mutual binding contract, this is how you know when to drop car insurance. But, don’t drop it until you have fought your insurance company and got your claim paid (if it is a valid claim).  If you need help contact you state’s Insurance Commissioner and file a complaint.

Once the issue has been resolved, find a new insurance company and drop the old one as quick as you can.

Why insurance companies drop clients, what you can do if you are dropped and when it is just time to go to a different company.

The bad news of cancelled insurance usually comes from a letter.

The jaw drop is a classic reaction to the letter that you are currently reading in your hand right now. The letter is from your insurance company and they have decided to not renew your policy. You may have had too many accidents, too many tickets or any number of reasons could be listed on that letter.

So what do you do when your auto insurance drops you?

Why Insurance Companies Drop Clients

When we talk about insurance companies dropping a client it is not in regards to your policy being cancelled because you didn’t pay your premium. A client that has been dropped by an insurance company gets a letter from the company that something has changed about the client or their driving record that the company doesn’t like and now they no longer wish to insure them.

The most common reasons for a client being dropped is too many accidents or too many points on their driving record from citations and accidents. Other reasons can be your credit score has become too low, there are too many high risk drivers in your home or you have been late paying your bill too many times.

What Can You Do if You are Dropped

If you get a letter from your insurance company that they are dropping you, read the letter very carefully to find out why. Then call the insurance company to speak to them about the reason. If they are dropping you because of too many accidents, request that they tell you exactly what they found on your CLUE report. The CLUE report is the report that insurance companies use to verify the number of and nature of accidents that someone has been in. CLUE reports are notorious for being wrong so make sure that they are dropping you based on correct information. If the information on your CLUE report is wrong, you will have to contact the company that submitted the information.

A letter stating that you have too many points on your driving record also needs to be verified to make sure that the citations and points on the record are correct. If they are not, contact the DMV that reported the information to your record. No matter the reason always verify that the insurance company is dropping you based on accurate information.

Moving On After Being Dropped

After checking to make sure that all of your information is correct and that there is nothing left to be done to stop from being dropped, it’s time to move on. Start calling around to your local insurance agencies to get quotes and also to insurance companies directly – or get quotes on our website.

Be honest as to why you are looking for new insurance and as to what is on your record. These new companies are going to pull up the same reports that your old company pulled up when they dropped you so there is no use in hiding information.

You will find that each insurance company has different criteria that they insure people under and your new company may be a little more forgiving than your last one.

How the crime rates, number of uninsured motorists and the weather in your state can determine your auto insurance premiums – plus car insurance rates by state.

This vehicle will see a change in its insurance premium if it moves from one state to another.

The price of auto insurance is determined by many different factors. It can go up or down depending on your age, driving record, credit score, the type of car you drive and also your gender. But, did you know that how much you pay for car insurance also depends on where you live?

When an insurance company sends a request for the base premium for a state or specific area to the state Insurance Commissioner, they are using the statistics of claims filed or potential for claims being filed in a location. They want to make sure that they are not going to pay out more in claims payments then they are going to be collecting in premium. So if a certain location has a higher chance of having a claim, they want to make sure that they are charging a high enough premium.

Crime Rates

The crime rate in your state can have an impact on your insurance premium, specifically car thefts and vandalism. If you live in a state where you have a higher chance of getting your car stolen or damaged, the higher your insurance premiums will be to offset the claim payout of having to fix or replace your vehicle.

Liberal Monetary Awards

We have all see commercials for personal injury lawyers advertising their services to obtain financial compensation for those that have been injured in an accident. The high awards that these lawyers get for their clients end up increasing the premiums for everyone.

In the states that have judges that award higher monetary compensation and also have more lawyers advertising their services to help obtain these high awards, like Louisiana, they see the highest premium increases due to this factor.

Weather

You never know when Mother Nature is going to get ugly and cause damage. Statistically there are states, such as Oklahoma, that have a higher chance of seeing this happen than others and insurance companies keep track. States that are in “tornado alley”, flood prone states and severe weather states all have their premiums increased to compensate for the likelihood of a weather related claim.

Uninsured Drivers

Even though there are laws protecting those of us that are insured from them, uninsured drivers are everywhere. Not only are they a higher danger to us on the road, they are also one of the causes of our increased auto premiums. Because a driver that is not insured has no insurance company to pay for the damages that they cause, the victim’s uninsured motorist or collision coverage has to pick up the bill. This uncompensated claim payout then is spread out through all of that insurance companies customers for them to pay for in the form of higher premiums. Statistically some states have higher numbers of uninsured motorists driving up insurance premiums.

State by State Case (2017 updated)

While the insurance premiums can even vary within a specific state due to all of the above factors, there isn’t the room or the time to cover every single town and city across the nation. So instead we have provided the chart below for you to compare where your state stands in average premium rates.

Most Expensive States , Least Expensive States (2011 data)

Data courtesy of Insure.com