Auto registration and proof of insurance

[The Rodent]

Perhaps I'm paranoid about safety, but I don't want anything in my car that has my address on it. Too many instances of cars been stolen and thieves using registration info (for address) and garage door openers to enter and burglarize homes.

Is it acceptable to keep a COPY of the registration and proof of insurance with the address blacked out? I would keep the originals at home. Even the Home button on my GPS isn't my actual address!

Have tried to Google this without any success. Maybe there's some better Googlers out there or someone who works in law enforcement or insurance industry.

 

[braumeister]

Yes.
I have always done this.

 

[RobbieB]

Just keep your docs in your wallet.

 

[samclem]

Trying to "de-link" your car from your identity/your home address seems very troublesome and not very likely to be successful. If you are like most of us, your car sometimes spends time in your driveway overnight, having a regular GD opener inside is just like leaving a front door key on the seat. Or anyone who knows where you park it when shopping, at work, etc could easily have the info you are desiring to keep from them.

I would think a more foolproof approach would be to avoid leaving a garage door opener in the car that can be used by a crook. Two ideas:
1) Get a key-fob remote that works with your door opener, then just keep it on your person. Something like this: VKtech Key "Universal" Fob Remote
2) Instead of using the standard remote in your car, use a wireless keypad that requires entry of a pass code. Something like this. Wireless Keypad

Another layer of security: Hide your registration and insurance papers. Sure, its a bit of extra hassle if you are pulled over, but there's nothing that says these need to be in your glove compartment. Cars have lots of nooks and crannies, and a crook is very unlikely to spend a lot of time looking for these papers. MAybe not much security if they've actually stolen the vehicle, but for the regular "smash and grab" job, it would work fine.

 

[gauss]

We only have key fob door openers, so this hopefully will not be an issue for us.

I got the fobs purely for the convenience, not the security.

In general, however, if my car were stolen, I guess the first thing I would do is unplug the door opener until I have time to erase the remotes's programming in the garage unit.

-gauss

 

[Senator]

Most documents can be stored on your phone. The cops can verify registration, no problem. Your insurance card can be kept on your phone.

 

[Another Reader]

In the old days(at least in California), the car registration was attached to the steering wheel column. Anyone could walk by and read it. No one gave it a second thought.

I wonder if the police would accept a phone image of the registration and insurance card.

 

[gromit]

This weekend there was a Clark Howard article on this subject. Never leave your car registration in the glove box | Clark Howard

 

[38Chevy454]

.......The cops can verify registration, no problem. Your insurance card can be kept on your phone.

Except not here in stupid NM. Even though they can see the reg sticker (which also has your license plate number on it, so no switching), and even though they can call in and verify - they make you produce the paper copy. Even worse it has to be signed! If you can't produce it, they give you a proof of correction ticket! Total BS.

No idea if the phone ins card is acceptable, they want paper for that too.

 

[Koolau]

Except not here in stupid NM. Even though they can see the reg sticker (which also has your license plate number on it, so no switching), and even though they can call in and verify - they make you produce the paper copy. Even worse it has to be signed! If you can't produce it, they give you a proof of correction ticket! Total BS.

No idea if the phone ins card is acceptable, they want paper for that too.

Just another of the "No reason for it - Just our policy" typical of bureaucracy. YMMV

 

[Walt34]

Is it acceptable to keep a COPY of the registration and proof of insurance with the address blacked out?

Call your local police department and ask. State laws vary. In MD the answer would be a resounding NO! In fact, not having both with you in the car (can be in your wallet) are separate offenses. I think a photocopy would be okay, but not with address blacked out.

There is good reason for this. At the scene of an accident the other party will of course want to know if you have insurance, even absent any question of who's fault the accident is. And at least in MD, driving without insurance is of course a violation so the responding police officer (if one is called) too needs to know if the insurance is current. Blacking out the address raises a big question mark about whose insurance card you're showing - yours or some other guy's with the same name?

When I rode a motorcycle I kept the cards in my wallet.

 

[audreyh1]

Just keep your docs in your wallet.

That's what I do - the insurance. I'm not required to carry vehicle registration paperwork as my vehicle has a sticker (TX).

 

[Bestwifeever]

I don't worry about this kind of crime. I never see news reports about this happening and don't know anyone that it has ever happened to. Not that it couldn't happen but surely there are easier ways to rob people. Even the Clark Howard article mentioned above says it has not happened in Atlanta.

 

[Just_Steve]

I think an issue to be more concerned about than having your address exposed is.... when you drop you car at the repair shop or have it valet parked do you remove your house key from the key ring? Shops have been known to make copies and then rob the house at a later time.

 

[scrabbler1]

I think an issue to be more concerned about than having your address exposed is.... when you drop you car at the repair shop or have it valet parked do you remove your house key from the key ring? Shops have been known to make copies and then rob the house at a later time.

When I do this, I know about it in advance so I take my spare car key and give that to the valet or mechanic while my main key ring with all my keys stays with me.

 

[bingybear]

As I recall we get an insurance copy without our address and a registration copy without our address on them. These are what we put in the car. The copies with our address are kept at home as backups. We don't have to make copies or blackout addresses. This all comes with the normal processing.... at least for us.

 

[grasshopper]

Arizona lets me keep my insurance card on my tablet.

 

[jazz4cash]

Oh crap. Something else to worry about.

 

[ohyes]

Interesting, because I just subscribed to Clark Howard a couple days ago and this was addressed on his feed today.

>It said that Atlanta police say this particular crime is not prevalent there. His site suggests keeping a copy of registration in your wallet or on your phone and storing original at home.

Also says original of registration is rarely needed. Police check for it online.

Our registrations are in our glove compartments. Taking care of those can be tomorrow's -- or day after's ---- project.

 

[samclem]

If I need to produce these papers, it will be when I've been pulled over for a possible ticket or because I've been in an accident. In both cases I want things to be as simple as possible and I don't want to cause the cop any head-scratching about why my papers look funny. I sure don't want to ask them to wait while I scroll through a tablet or telephone.

 

[gauss]

If I need to produce these papers, it will be when I've been pulled over for a possible ticket or because I've been in an accident. In both cases I want things to be as simple as possible and I don't want to cause the cop any head-scratching about why my papers look funny. I sure don't want to ask them to wait while I scroll through a tablet or telephone.

+1 rarely ticketed
-gauss

Sent from my LGLS751 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[Sunset]

I like the key-fob garage door opener idea, currently when going to the garage, I take the garage door opener out of the car and hand over ONLY the car key & car lock fob.
They already know my address.

But I have thought about it when the car sits in the driveway overnight, a simple broken window and they have access to the garage (I do lock the door from garage to house).

 

[meierlde]

I like the key-fob garage door opener idea, currently when going to the garage, I take the garage door opener out of the car and hand over ONLY the car key & car lock fob.
They already know my address.

But I have thought about it when the car sits in the driveway overnight, a simple broken window and they have access to the garage (I do lock the door from garage to house).

But it is equally easy to break a window in the house as well. When I lived in Houston, they just heaved 2x4s thru windows to get in (after I fixed the sliding glass doors). (house glass does break easier)

 

[Car-Guy]

That's what I do - the insurance. I'm not required to carry vehicle registration paperwork as my vehicle has a sticker (TX).

I'm not sure what the law is these days, but in Texas, the police can look up your insurance status in real time. They'll usually ask for your proof of insurance anyway. I "guess" if you have a card they don't have to "check" specifically for that on line.

 

[samclem]

I'm not sure what the law is these days, but in Texas, the police can look up your insurance status in real time. They'll usually ask for your proof of insurance anyway. I "guess" if you have a card they don't have to "check" specifically for that on line.

That makes sense--it might save them time. It would also seem to be an opportunity to interact with the driver, take a look at them and to unobtrusively scan the exposed areas of the passenger compartment as the officer looks at the paper, it gives a reason to get close to the driver (while taking the papers) and sniff for alcohol on the breath, etc.