From April 1, 2024, motorists will no longer have to affix a green sticker to the windshields of their vehicle. The device will be dematerialized.
No more ritual at the start of the year: from April 1, 2024, it will no longer be necessary to affix your green car insurance sticker to the windshield of your vehicle.
Good news for motorists! We remove the green sticker to be placed on the windshield.
No more fines because it’s not displayed on the windshield.
No more lengthy paperwork.
No more printing this sticker which has a significant ecological cost of… pic.twitter.com/mEVQzwFBA8— Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) December 7, 2023
A decree on the subject is about to be published in the Official Journal. But concretely, what is changing? And why this deletion? La Dépêche du Midi returns in several points to this new feature.
What does it change ?
This is a measure that was announced last July. This decision should also be recorded in the coming days, by the publication of a decree in the Official Journal. In practice, from April 1, 2024, it will no longer be necessary to present the little “green butterfly” to certify the insurance of your vehicle. This obligation has existed since 1986: until now, if a motorist was unable to present valid proof of insurance, they were exposed to a fine of 35 euros, even if their vehicle was covered.
This certification will therefore be dematerialized. Thus, during a road check, to verify that a driver and his vehicle are in order, the police must directly consult the Insured Vehicle File (FVA). This was activated in 2019 and brings together all “third-party” automobile insurance contracts in France. Law enforcement will only need the license plate details to know if a vehicle is legal.
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Car insurance: the green sticker will be removed from April 1, 2024
However, during the first days following the subscription of an insurance contract, companies must provide an “insured memo” to their customer. This is a document the size of a credit card which must be placed in the vehicle: this will constitute proof of insurance during the first days of the contract. Furthermore, this document can be used in the case of an amicable report, to allow troubleshooters or repairers to access several pieces of information (assistance contact details, contract number, etc.).
What won’t change?
Concretely, the motorist must always insure his vehicle. “No rule relating to the obligation of car insurance has been changed. What changes is just its justification,” comments the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire.
In 2022, according to Marie Gautier-Melleray, interministerial delegate for road safety, more than 200,000 motorists have been fined in France for driving without car insurance. The offense is punishable by a fine of up to 3,750 euros.
Why such a measure?
First of all, it is a question of fighting against fraud: “This new system will be reliable, whereas before with this paper system, a motorist could easily falsify an insurance certificate”, continues the interministerial delegate.
But according to Bercy, there is also the desire for “dematerialization”. This new system should allow the State to avoid printing and sending by post some 60 million insurance certificates each year, which represents “1,200 tonnes of CO2 emitted each year”. “It is a common sense measure which constitutes an important step in the simplification and modernization of our insurance system,” comments Bruno Le Maire.