Do I have to have NY car insurance?

You sure do. Car insurance is mandatory in NY by law, and everytime you take out or terminate a car insurance policy, the insurance company that you do so with notifices the NY DMV. The only way that you don’t have to have insurance on your vehicle is if it is a motorcycle and is in storage. Any other type of vehicle, whether it is in storage or broken down, has to be insured so long as it is registered in the state of NY, and be insured by one of NY’s car insurance agencies.

And if I don’t?

• License.

The penalties on your driver’s license for going without insurance are harsh. If you get caught and don’t fix things, then you will have to pay $1,500 for the ticket and the court costs. In addition to that, your license will be revoked and it will cost you another $750 to get it back. That’s over two grand, just because you didn’t want to pay an at the most one hundred dollar one month policy.

Not only that, but if you get into a car accident without insurance, or if you let someone drive your car which does not have insurance and that person gets into an accident, then you will be without a license for an entire year.

• License plates.

The second you don’t have car insurance in NY, you have to give up your license plates. If you don’t, see how easy it is not getting pulled over while you’re driving around with fake plates.

• Lapses.

If the state of NY finds out that your NY car insurance has lapsed, the first thing that happens is that you get a letter stating the discrepency and allowing you to fix it. If you actually have insurance, this is your chance to send them proof of that. If you don’t, good luck.

What about my registration?

If you’re in a lapse of insurance for more than three months and you haven’t turned in your plates during that time, then you will have your license suspended. Before you reach the ninety day mark, though, you can opt to pay a fine instead of turning in the plates. The first month, the fine is eight dollars a day. The second, it’s ten. The third, it’s twelve. At the ninetieth day, you can pay up the nine hundred dollars of fines you’ve racked up, but if you go to ninety one, then your registration will be suspended for three months.

But I got a letter and my insurance really is valid.

That’s a bit of bad luck for you. If you have valid insurance and you get a letter stating you have gone into an insurance lapse, this could mean a couple of things.

• You changed companies and did not notify the DMV. Your old company will notify of the termination, but your new one has no obligation to notify of the new policy.
• The DMV checked the validity of your insurance with your company, and they denied it.

If the former is your problem, then that’s easily fixed by going onto the NY car insurance website and submitting your new insurance information. However, the latter could cause some problems, especially if you were not aware that your policy had been cancelled or if it was a mistake.

If your company denied that you were a customer, call them up to get the problem fixed. While you’re still in limbo with this, NY does not consider it an excuse. In order to avoid fines, you still have to turn in your plates and avoid using the car until everything is sorted out.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.