Soon it will be the end of the green card and its sticker on the windshield. Insurers have been requesting the withdrawal of these documents for some time, which has cost them dearly. In return, they agree to contain the increase in their premiums in 2022 and 2023.
For almost 38 years and under penalty of a 35 euro fine, the green insurance sticker must appear in the lower right corner of the windscreen of each car or truck, as well as on the fender of all 2 wheels. However, since 2019, law enforcement officers have access to a national file of insured vehicles (known as FAV) created in 2016 by insurers. It is up to the latter and their delegates to register the license plate of any vehicle within 72 hours following the effective date of the guarantee.
56 million insurance certificates printed and delivered each year in France
Now that they are equipped with smartphones and laptops, police officers and gendarmes no longer really need to decipher the inscriptions printed on the green label (or “Insurance Certificate”) to carry out the checks required by their missions. . The name of the insurer, the contract number, the validity dates and the vehicle’s registration number appear in the national file.
The insurance certificate not only duplicates the FAV file, it is inherently fallible. Because, as the mutual MAIF reminds us, “the sticker does not constitute absolute proof of insurance”, for the simple reason that a contract in force at the time of publication of the document may very well cease to be so a few days later. Consequently, only the mentions made in the FAV file are authentic.
Eliminating the green card could save up to €100 million on paper and postage
For these two good reasons, insurers have long called for the elimination of the insurance certificate in its paper form, along with its inseparable companion, the insurance certificate better known as the “green card”. each motorist receives each year by mail, and that is responsible for saving with his real estate certificate.[…]