Despite The TV Ads, Have A Cardboard Insurance ID Card, Authorities Warn
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- You may have heard or seen commercials where a driver proves he has insurance by presenting his smartphone to an officer.
Is that legal here? The answer is ... not yet.
(Officer:) "What's this?"
(Pig:) "That's my Geico insurance ID card, sir."
On TV, Maxwell the pig not only drives a convertible, but when he's pulled over, he hands the trooper his smartphone displaying his electronic insurance card.
Around here right now, both are fantasies.
"If a pig driving a convertible hands me a smartphone with his proof of insurance, I will accept it as legal. Unfortunately, everybody else is going to be out of luck," says New Jersey State Police Lieutenant Stephen Jones.
Eleven states currently allow digital proof of auto insurance, but Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware do not.
However, says Alex Hageli, with the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, the list is growing.
"A year ago at this time we had two states. Now we're at 11," he tells KYW Newsradio with optimism.
Hageli expects the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware legislatures will approve e-cards within the next two years.
