The older brother no longer plays. The State of California has implemented a new system whereby, effective October 1, 2006, the DMV begins a systematic review of the 22.4 million private cars, trucks and motorcycles registered in the state.
If your motorcycle, car, truck, or other motor vehicle is found to be uninsured, you will receive a 30-day warning letter. If you don’t get insurance after that, the state will suspend your registration. If you are found to be driving without a proper record, your car can be impounded by the state and you can face fines of up to $1,000.00.
This is not a joke friends. If you drive without insurance, you will eventually be ticketed.
Additionally, the state now requires insurance providers to notify the DMV if your insurance is canceled or expires.
what does this mean to you? It means if you drive without insurance, you’re screwed. The state will eventually catch up with you. Gone are the days of buying insurance to get your license plate and plates out, only to cancel a month later.
If you are in a motorcycle, car, or other motor vehicle accident and do not have insurance, you face the loss of your driver’s license for up to one year, fines of up to $2,000.00, and the possibility of being hit with a civil lawsuit that requires you to pay for the damage you have caused.
The minimum liability insurance requirements in the state are currently $10,000.00 for property damage, $15,000.00 per person, and $30,000.00 per incident.
The purpose of the law is supposedly to make it fair to the people who pay for insurance and lower insurance rates. I agree that it is not fair for law abiding citizens to pay for insurance while 15% of the people in the State do not, however, and as usual, the insurance companies will get by as bandits with this new law. I seriously doubt insurance rates will go down.
As a personal injury attorney, I can tell you that it pains me to see someone get hit by an uninsured motorist, so it’s a good thing the State is cracking down on this problem. However, to be really fair, the State should force insurance companies to lower their rates in exchange for this law.
There is another thing to keep in mind; If you are uninsured and have an accident that is not your fault, you will not be able to recover your out-of-pocket losses and that’s it! To add insult to injury, you could lose your driver’s license for 1 year and have to pay up to $2,000.00 in fines for driving without insurance.
The bottom line; obtain liability insurance. The cost of not having insurance is much higher than the cost of getting insurance. If you can’t afford liability insurance; do not drive!
By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq. © 2006