Keep your policy reference and insurer’s number where you can produce them in a hurry, such as in the glovebox or wallet.
Anyone who scans it reads it, so a code left visible in a windshield is a code strangers can read. Keep it somewhere deliberate, such as a wallet or a glovebox, and encode a policy reference and a phone number rather than anything that would be useful to a thief.
Enter content to generate QR code
The code holds the policy number, insurer, holder name, type of cover and a contact number and email, as plain labeled text. It is a legible card that happens to be machine-readable. Nothing is verified with the insurer and nothing is looked up, so it is a convenience for you rather than proof of anything to anybody else.
A glovebox card, and the code holds:
INSURANCE - POL-88213
Insurer: Northwind Mutual
Type: Auto
Phone: +18005550199A reference and a claims line. Nothing here is signed or verified by anyone, which is exactly why it is a convenience for you and not proof of cover to anybody else.
What a claim actually needs at the roadside is the policy number, the insurer’s name and the claims line. Full identity details, dates of birth and document numbers add nothing at that moment and turn a lost card into an identity problem. The insurer can look the rest up from the reference.
A QR code you generated yourself is not a certificate and no authority will treat it as one. Where proof is legally required — at a border, after an accident, in some jurisdictions on demand — carry the document the insurer issued. This card is for finding the number quickly, not for demonstrating anything.
A glovebox, a wallet or a document folder. Not the windshield: a card visible from outside tells anyone passing that the vehicle is insured with a particular company under a particular reference, which is the kind of detail that supports a convincing phone call later.
Policy numbers change at renewal and the code cannot follow. Either regenerate the card each year as part of the renewal routine, or encode a dynamic code pointing at a private page you keep current, which is worth it for a fleet and overkill for one car.
Anyone who can see the code can read it, so keep it to a reference number and the insurer’s public contact. Leave out identity documents, dates of birth and anything else that would be useful to somebody impersonating you.
Policy number, insurer name, type of cover and the claims line. That is what anyone actually asks for at the scene, and the insurer can find everything else from the reference.
No. A code you made yourself is not a certificate and no authority will accept it as one. Carry the document your insurer issued where proof is required.
Regenerate the code with the new reference; the old one is fixed in the pattern. For a fleet, a dynamic code pointing at a page you maintain saves reprinting every card each year.
In the glovebox, wallet or document folder. Not on display in the windshield, where it advertises your insurer and policy number to everyone who walks past.