Team-BHP - Send SMS to check if a vehicle has valid insurance coverage

Insurance regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is deploying technology which will enable a simple SMS query to ascertain whether a vehicle is insured or not. The move will help bring within the insurance net the lakhs of uninsured vehicles in India.
IRDA is working on a Vehicle Insurance Status SMS System (VISSS) project which envisages creation of a huge database created from motor policy information supplied by all insurance companies.
Under the new system, anyone who wants to know the insurance status of any vehicle plying in India has to SMS the registration number of the vehicle to a telephone number connected with the portal. The vehicle registration number will be searched in the system and insurance status of the vehicle with period of cover will be sent through SMS. In case of new vehicles, insured for the first time, instead of registration number, engine number or chassis number of the vehicle needs to be sent.

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This is the first step in preventing uninsured vehicles on the roads. Let's hope that they implement this search efficiently. It would be a big task to search the databases of all big and small insurers. Are the finance companies ready to share this kind of private/confidential data?

Perhaps the future step could be to introduce internet-based search, which can then be used at strategic locations (e.g., toll booths) to catch uninsured vehicles.