Make Sure Your Car is Insured in Dallas
Remember that post I wrote last week about driving without car insurance? Well, it seems that in Dallas, the police are taking driving without insurance to a whole new level. Under a new city-wide Dallas ordinance, the local police will be calling in the tow trucks if a driver can’t verify proof of vehicle insurance…
…and absolutely, positively no excuses, either…
“We just bought the car a couple of weeks ago,” one man said, according to a police report. “We’re going to get insurance tomorrow.” The excuse didn’t fly. His 1992 Oldsmobile was hitched to a wrecker.
According to reports on Dallasnews.com, police reported that 20 vehicles were towed during the first 24 hours of the New Year and although the new ordinance was approved last May, the City Council decided to wait until January 1 to implement the new measures and also for a state database of insured motorists to be completed – even though the database isn’t running yet. Officials say that data base is expected to be completed and up and running soon, however.
According to the police, drivers who may be elderly, who have physical disabilities or who have young children with them may be able to get a reprieve, however drivers with vehicles headed to the impound lot will be taken to a location where they can call to secure a ride.
I’m not sure how this works if you are driving someone else’s insured vehicle and not your own. Hopefully proof of insurance cards will be kept within the vehicle, but the cards only list the name of the driver whose name is on the policy. For example, if my daughter is driving my car and gets involved in an accident in Dallas or gets pulled over and proof of insurance is requested, the proof of insurance card will only have my name listed as the insured even though my daughter is also listed on the policy as an insured driver.
Hopefully Dallas – as well as other cities which may be considering a similar program – will get their data bases up and running as soon as possible. It would probably a good idea to wait until those data bases are completed before enforcing any towing.
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You know, I’ve had State Farm auto insurance all my life and never wondered what other companies’ proof of insurance cards look like. For State Farm, all the drivers on the plan are listed, along with the vehicles they drive. That way there’s no confusion about who’s driving which car. Maybe you could do a comparison of what different companies’ insurance cards look like, how to read them (in case you’re in an accident), etc?
Yikes, you’d think they would have made getting the database online a priority before implementing the law.
Hi Sarah: That’s great that each driver/auto is listed on your insurance cards. I’ll do some digging and see how other insurance companies stack up. Thanks for the suggestion.
Melissa: I know, right?
Philadelphia has the same law. However, only the primary insured driver is listed on the card.