Austin Texas Car Insurance

Reader’s Question:

If you get stopped in Austin, Texas, does every law enforcement officer have immediate access to insurance records? How do they check if you have car insurance? Will they be able to know immediately? Is it by the person or the vehicle?

Josh

Austin, TX

 

The State of Texas in 2008 implemented a new technology program that permits law enforcement officers and designated state users to immediately verify if an individual has auto insurance. This new TX Financial Responsibility Verification Program (FRVP) was developed by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), and was a joint project mandated by the Texas Legislature and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), and the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR).

The purpose of the program is to reduce the number of uninsured drivers in Texas by stopping those that use fraudulent or false insurance cards or those that dropped coverage after getting their valid car insurance card. This new verification system gives police officers and other state users real-time immediate access to car insurance information on a given car and/or motorist at their fingertips.