OAI: Auto Insurance Verification Efforts Highlighted by Progress in Ala.

Alabama officials are prepping motorists in the state for the imminent kick-off of its Online Insurance Verification System (OIVS), underlining similar recent efforts in other states to install databases that flag vehicles lacking coverage and highlighting the increasing riskiness of driving without a proper policy, according to Online Auto Insurance.

All authorities in Alabama and county officials who issue license plates at the registration process will begin using OIVS by Jan. 1, 2013, according to the state Department of Revenue, which spearheaded the system's creation. Until then, the database is undergoing pilot-testing in 10 counties in the state.

With a handful of states contacting motorists about such databases, and others already enforcing database use, drivers lacking coverage should retrieve online auto insurance quotes to find out how much it will take to get a policy in place as authorities are getting better at identifying uninsured vehicles. Penalties for driving without coverage vary state to state but usually carry suspensions of registration and driver's licenses for repeat offenders.

Earlier this month in Kentucky, car owners whose vehicles were found in the database to be lacking coverage for more than two months began receiving enforcement notices. The notices gave recipients 30 days to offer proof of coverage or face registration suspension.

Also this month in West Virginia, the Department of Motor Vehicles began including informational inserts in mailed registration renewals asking for confirmation of vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and other policyholder information for use in the state's database.

The Montana Highway Patrol began using the state's verification system on May 21, with all state authorities and court officials expected to gain access later this summer.

Idaho lawmakers strongly supported legislation behind a verification system that was approved by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter in March. The system is expected to be operational by January 2014.

Most support behind such pieces of legislation relied on the logic that such databases would ease enforcement of laws that exist in all states requiring drivers to carry insurance.

"Various studies have indicated there is a valid concern among motorists nationwide that many of the drivers on the road are uninsured," Alabama state revenue commissioner Julie P. Magee says.

Verification systems will also prevent drivers from obtaining valid driving documents during the registration process and then canceling their policy shortly afterwards to avoid paying premiums, according to Magee.

However, not all efforts to establish verification databases have been successful.

A bill behind such a system in Oklahoma died in the state Legislature on May 25, weeks after it was put in conference between lawmakers of the state House and Senate. The conference was meant to iron out versions of the bill that differed on use of "probable cause" language governing when police could check a vehicle for proper coverage.

Legislation in Tennessee to establish a verification database passed the state Senate unanimously in late April, but the bill stalled and didn't see further action by the end of the state's legislative session on May 1.

Similar legislation in Mississippi made it through the state Legislature last year only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Haley Barbour, who said his denial was based on concerns about the cost of setting up and maintaining such a system. A nearly identical version of that bill was introduced to the state Legislature this year but stalled in committee.

For more on this and insurance-related issues, head to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/ for access to an easy-to-use quote-comparison generator and informative resource pages.