Had a similar scare once—left my backpack on a bus with all my new insurance papers inside. Luckily, someone turned it in untouched, but man, that sinking feeling when you realize your docs might be gone... not fun. Keeping important stuff digitally like you're doing sounds smart. I've started snapping quick pics of mine and saving them securely on my phone. Feels a lot safer than carrying around physical copies everywhere. Glad your break-in wasn't worse, though—still sucks to lose even small stuff like change, but at least they didn't mess with your paperwork.
Yeah, digital backups are definitely a lifesaver. But honestly, even with digital copies, it's still a good idea to keep at least one physical set somewhere safe—like a locked drawer or safe at home. Phones can get lost or hacked too, right? Had a client once whose phone got stolen, and they hadn't backed up their cloud properly... total nightmare. Glad your backpack turned up untouched though, that's a relief. Losing paperwork is stressful enough without worrying about identity theft on top of it.
Had a policyholder once who’d scanned all her docs, but only stored them on her laptop. Guess what—her laptop died during a power surge, and she hadn’t put anything in the cloud or printed a backup. It was a pain getting everything sorted for her claim. Is it overkill to keep both paper and digital? Maybe, but I’d rather have too many copies than none. Anyone else feel like physical paperwork is making a comeback, or is that just me being paranoid?
I get where you’re coming from. I had a minor fender bender last year, and when I went to dig up my insurance info, I realized my phone had just updated and somehow lost the PDF. Luckily, I’d shoved a paper copy in my glove box months before—totally saved me. I used to think keeping paper was old-school, but now I’m not so sure it’s overkill. Tech fails at the worst times... maybe a little paranoia isn’t such a bad thing.
Totally get the paranoia—tech is awesome until it isn’t. I’m all about digital backups, but I’ve had my share of “where the heck did that file go?” moments. Here’s how I try to cover my bases:
- Paper copy in the glove box (old-school, but it works)
- Scanned PDF in my email (in case my phone dies or gets wiped)
- Quick photo of the card in my camera roll
I know it sounds like overkill, but after a road trip where I lost cell service for hours, I realized you can’t always count on cloud storage or apps. Plus, paper doesn’t run out of battery.
Curious—has anyone actually needed to show proof of insurance to a cop or at an accident and only had a digital copy? Did they give you grief about it, or was it fine? I’ve heard some states are cool with digital, but not everywhere.
