New California law allows you to show proof of auto insurance coverage on your smartphone!

There is a new law in California, beginning on January 1, 2013, which allows you to show your proof of auto insurance coverage on your smartphone.

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law Assembly Bill 1708, which makes California the seventh state in the country that allows drivers to show proof of auto insurance coverage via their smartphone or other mobile electronic device. Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, and Minnesota also have similar laws.

Drivers can still opt to hand over a piece of paper from their glove box instead, the Association of California Insurance Companies said in a news release.

The new law applies to motorists and insurers. Insurance companies can decide whether to provide insurance identification cards to customers electronically or in a paper copy.

How many times have you been pulled over, or come up to a DUI check point, and asked to provide proof of auto insurance? Then, after digging through your glove box, you finally find it and it's expired! This has happened to me many times and recently I have used the smartphone application from my auto insurance carrier to serve as proof. Now it's finally a law and you can legally use your smartphone as your proof of auto insurance. This law makes perfect sense in today's age of smartphones and other mobile electronic devices.

"Electronic proof of coverage is the wave of the future," said Alex Hageli of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. "Several insurers already offer apps or will email copies of policies to consumers."

Some of the insurance companies that currently provide Android based apps that show your auto insurance policy are: AAA, Allstate Insurance Company, Esurance, Farmers Insurance Group, GEICO Insurance, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, MetLife Inc, Nationwide Insurance, Progressive Insurance, Shelter Mutual Insurance Company, The General Insurance, and USAA.