Insurers Slowing Launch of Insurance Verification System in Oklahoma

Five police departments across Oklahoma are using an electronic insurance verification system designed to crack down on uninsured motorists, and state officials said the computerized system should be fully operational in less than two months.

State tag agents have been using it since Oct. 1, said David Beatty, with the state Public Safety Department and project manager for the compulsory insurance verification system. A Lawton-based Oklahoma Highway Patrol troop also has been testing it, he said.

“We’re very close,” Beatty said. “We were ready last July. Getting the insurance companies on board has been the real struggle.”

The department wants to make sure all insurance policy information is in the database to ensure law officers have accurate information, Beatty said. “If we have no records just because the insurance company is not participating, that’s not fair to the consumer,” Beatty said. “We know everything’s working right, but we would like all the companies to be participating so that we are absolutely sure that nobody’s falling through the cracks.”

The Bristow, Duncan, Eufaula, Jones and Seminole police departments recently began using the system, he said. The new system only checks personal vehicles; commercial vehicles are not on the system. About 25 percent of Oklahoma motorists don’t have vehicle insurance, it’s estimated.

It has taken longer than expected to get all the 165 insurance companies that write personal vehicle liability premiums to share information with the state’s database. Insurers are responsible for providing policy information directly to the department.

“For real-time online verification to work, the state must be able to identify on any given day all insurance companies who are actively writing personal lines vehicle policies in Oklahoma,” Beatty said.