Just because an insurance card is given to a police officer at the time of an accident, it does not mean that the driver has insurance. If the driver’s insurance was cancelled it makes his or her insurance card worthless. The traffic officer has no way of knowing whether the driver’s insurance is active.
So let’s assume that the traffic crash report lists the driver and owner of the vehicle that hit you. The other driver received a ticket. His or her insurance is listed as State Farm Insurance (or any other insurance). You call State Farm to set up a claim and State Farm tells you that the policy information that they don’t have any record of the driver or owner. State Farm says that they don’t have any record of the insurance policy number that you gave them.
You have a couple of options:
1. a) DMV/Online Search.
In order to find out who owned the vehicle at the time of the accident, you can complete a Driver License, Motor Vehicle/Vessel Records Request and mail it to the DMV. In most situations in Florida, the owner of the vehicle is liable for damages (medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering) caused by someone who drivers the owner’s car.
The driver is liable as well. The DMV has a 2-week processing time from the date that they receive your request. The form is self-explanatory and has instructions on it.
You should ask the DMV to provide you with the title and registration information to the vehicle at the time of the accident. You can do this by completing this form.
b. A quicker method that I use is to run a search in Accurint (an online software that I subscribe to). The problem with Accurint is that much of the public does not qualify to use it.
There are probably many other online programs that will locate the owner of a vehicle if you have the VIN number. The VIN number is the number that appears on the dashboard of a car. The traffic crash investigator (usually a police officer) writes the VIN numbers – of all vehicles involved in an accident – on the crash report.
2. Uninsured motorist (UM) insurance.
If you have plenty of uninsured motorist (UM) auto insurance, you can open a claim with your UM insurer. Tell them that you have no record of the tortfeasor having any insurance. Let the UM insurer do the work for you if there is plenty of UM.
Now, even if I opened a UM claim, I would still at the same time be doing everything within reason to locate liability insurance for the vehicle (car, truck, etc.) that caused the accident.
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