How to Find a Car Insurance Record

Finding a car insurance record takes a little sleuthing, but can give you some very valuable information. People often search these records before they purchase a vehicle to determine whether it's been in any accidents.

If you have any question about the validity of the claims made by a person selling you a car, you may want to gather insurance records and any other information you can get about the vehicle you want to buy.

As a starting point, request records from the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state where you are purchasing the vehicle.

Ask for any records about the vehicle you are considering. Have the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) handy to give to the clerk, since this is the way they identify each car.

Expect to pay between $10 and $20 for a title transfer report. This should contain information about any sales in the state where you are requesting information. If the car arrived from another state, it will likely name the state, but will not contain information from that state.

It should give you accurate information about the current owner. If it gives you information about the previous owner, you may be able to search more through that avenue.

The seller may be willing to provide insurance records if they want you to purchase the car.

Alternatively, you can ask the name of the insurance company and ask for their records. You can try to search through the previous owner using the information from the title report, however, insurance companies do not like to give out information about their clients, and they are not required to do so.

Sometimes prior owners are more cooperative since they have already sold the vehicle, or you can also use a commercial service such as CarFax for more information.