Verifying the Person Selling You a Policy

Insurance is one of the few purchases where you hand over money and receive a promise. That makes the identity of the person taking the money worth two minutes of checking, and California makes the check easy and free.

The licensing requirement

Insurance Code section 1631 provides that a person shall not solicit, negotiate, or effect contracts of insurance, or act in any of the capacities defined in the licensing article, unless the person holds a valid license from the Insurance Commissioner authorizing them to act in that capacity. Selling insurance without that license is not a technicality; it is prohibited.

How to verify, in two minutes

1. Ask for the person's full name as it appears on their license, and their California license number. This is a normal request and a licensed agent will answer it without hesitation.
2. Go to insurance.ca.gov and use the department's Check License Status tool, which searches by license number or by name.
3. Confirm the name matches, the license is active, and the license type covers what they are selling you.

If you would rather not use a website, the department's consumer hotline at 1-800-927-4357 can help you confirm it.

Signs worth slowing down for

• No license number on anything. Business cards, quotes and receipts from a licensed agent normally carry one.
• No insurance company named. You are buying a policy from a carrier. If nobody will tell you which carrier, there is nothing to verify.
• Payment demanded in cash with no receipt, or payment asked to be sent to a personal account rather than to the agency or the carrier.
• Pressure to sign now, or refusal to send documents before payment. A real quote can be emailed and read at your kitchen table.
• No declarations page ever arrives. This is the clearest signal of all. Within a reasonable period of buying a policy, a document from the insurance company should reach you directly.
• A price that does not resemble any other quote you were given. Not proof of anything, but a reason to verify everything else on this list.

The independent confirmation

The strongest check does not involve the agent at all. Once you have a policy number and a carrier name, contact that insurance company directly, using a number you looked up yourself rather than one you were given, and confirm the policy exists in your name with the coverages you were told. It takes one call and it settles the question completely.

If something is wrong

Report it to the California Department of Insurance at 1-800-927-4357 or through insurance.ca.gov. The department licenses agents and brokers and it is the correct place to raise concerns about one. You do not need to be certain before you call; asking is what the hotline is for.

Keep the paper trail from the first payment

Whatever you pay and however you pay it, get a receipt that names three things: the insurance company, the policy number or application number, and the amount. A receipt with only a person's name and a figure on it identifies nothing and proves nothing.

Keep those receipts until the policy documents arrive from the carrier and you have matched them against what you were told you bought. If a month passes with money paid and no document from any insurance company, stop and verify before paying again. That is the point at which a problem is still small.

Our license number is on this site, and we will give it to you again on the phone if you want to check it.