Insurance companies are not required to use web services. However, if an insurance company does not use web services, law enforcement has no way of quickly determining whether a vehicle involved in an accident is insured.
Policy key, VIN, NAIC and requested verification date are mandatory elements for a web-service request.
- Policy Key: The policy key for each insurance company may be a company’s policy number, or a number that a company uses internally to locate a policy record. If a jurisdiction would like to send a verification request for a specific vehicle, but the insurance company and/or policy key is unknown, an unknown request can be sent to any insurance company. To accomplish this, a value of “UNKNOWN” should be placed in the Policy Key field.
Note: This option may not be available for non-vehicle specific policies, which is the case for many commercially insured customers. However, vehicles insured under a commercial insurance policy are not subject to insurance verification requirements. Insurers of commercial vehicles may participate in the electronic insurance verification program on a voluntary basis.
- Vehicle Identification Number (VIN): VIN is used by insurance companies that will verify evidence of insurance at the vehicle level. Some companies may choose to confirm insurance at the policy level.
- NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) Code
- Requested Verification Date
The message content key from the requesting entity may include the following optional data elements:
- Tracking / reference number
- Drivers’ license number
- Insured name
- Address:
- Street/PO Box
- City, state and zip code
- Vehicle make
- Vehicle model
- Vehicle year
- Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN)
If a VIN appears in an insurer’s monthly file and then drops out the next month, the Department will use web services to try to locate the missing VIN. The Department may choose to ping the last known insurance provider for that VIN.
References: Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-12-209(f).
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