Vehicle Insurance Lapse Concord California CA
Reader’s Question:
If I have a lapse auto insurance in California, what are the penalties?
Anne
Concord, CA
Section 16020 of the California Vehicle Codes states the owner of the vehicle must be able to establish financial responsibility and carry the form of financial responsiblity for the vehicle at all times. If the driver is caught
driving an uninsured vehicle or failed to show proof of this financial responsibility for the vehicle, then this may result in fines or suspension of the license and even impounding the vehicle.
A law was signed in 2004 that requires DMV to inform the customers of the possible suspension of vehicle registration if their car insurance company fails to show the vehicle’s initial registration within 30 days or 45 days after the DMV was notified by an insurance carrier about a cancellation of policy or a change in coverage.
This law, SB 1500, has an initial provision, effective Jan 1, 2006, requiring California insurance providers to report electronically liability policies for vehicles that are privately used, except boats, off-highway vehicles and trailers, to DMV when issued and/orcancelled.
Sarting July 1, 2006, private-used cars can be verified if properly insured using the vehicle registration database by law enforcing officers. Police departments in California are now widely accessing DMV’s registration database to write tickets for car that do not have insurance and to check registration during a traffic stop.
The CA legislatures passed a bill which took effect on October 1, 2006. The law states that when an insurance lapses or is cancelled, DMV will suspend the car’s registration to keep the motorist from cancelling the insurance a few months after it was bought.