The New Illinois Electronic Insurance Verification System: 4 Things to Know

If you are a driver in Illinois, you need at least minimum levels of car insurance. While this has always been the requirement, verification was often sporadic and usually only took place if law enforcement stopped you for some reason. Sporadic enforcement is no longer the case. With the new electronic verification system, the state can verify your coverage instantly.



Discover a few things to know about your requirements under the new verification system.

1. What Is the Illinois Insurance Verification System (ILIVS)?

The Illinois Secretary of State implemented the new Insurance Verification System on July 1, 2021. Under this new system, the state can verify your auto insurance coverage electronically. State officials put the new electronic verification system into place to reduce the number of uninsured drivers on the road.

2. What Do You Have to Do If You Have Insurance?

Verification will happen randomly twice per year and does not require any effort on your part as long as the state can verify your insurance. If your insurance is unable to be confirmed, you will receive a notice in the mail.

You must respond to this notice immediately. As long as you have insurance, contact your insurance company and provide your agent with the reference number at the top of your notice.

Your insurance company will then input your required information into the electronic verification system. If you fail to respond to this notice by the due date, the state will automatically suspend your registration. To reinstate your registration, you must pay $100.

With a suspended registration, you will be unable to operate your vehicle. Caught while driving on a suspended registration will result in a $1000 fine.

3. What Do You Have to Do If You Do Not Have Insurance?

If ILIVS sends you a notice and you do not have insurance, take out insurance immediately. Once you have a policy, your insurance company will be able to verify this for you. You will still likely face a registration suspension, but you can resolve this by going online and paying your $100 reinstatement fee once you have insurance.

If you are caught again without insurance, the state will levy a four-month registration suspension and a $100 reinstatement fee. 

If you are stopped or involved in an accident while uninsured, you can face much higher fines. You face a minimum fine of $1500. A $500 fine is for driving an uninsured vehicle, and the next $1000 is for driving with no insurance and suspended registration.

4. How Much Insurance Are You Required to Have?

If you still owe a balance on your vehicle, your lender may require you to carry full coverage, including collision and liability insurance. Collision insurance repairs your vehicle when it receives damage from an accident.

Once you have paid off your vehicle, collision insurance becomes optional. Although with the high cost of vehicle repairs, keeping collision insurance is highly recommended.

Liability insurance pays for damage your vehicle causes to another person or their property. Liability insurance is never optional. Your liability insurance has three components. These are:

• The amount of bodily injury per person
• The amount of bodily injury for more than one individual
• The amount of property damage

Illinois requires you to have $25,000/$50,000/$20,000. This coverage equates to $25,000 bodily injury per person, $50,000 bodily injury for more than one person, and $20,000 property damage. 

Do not allow the ILIVS to catch you without insurance. Instead, let Illinois Insurance Center in Chicago, IL, write you an affordable policy that will meet state requirements and get the coverage you need. We look forward to helping you.