Kanetix
Car Insurance Forum

3 months ago, I was late on my payment to my insurance company for several days. I have had the same insurance company for over 6 years.
I have paid the bill and all subsequent monthly bills.
3 days ago I got something in the mail from Office of Motor Vehicles stating that I have to pay them 50$ and give them proof of insurance, and if I don't, my car's registration will be taken away from me and I am not allowed to drive. It said that my car was not covered by Liability Insurance from "02 to 30" days and that is why I am being fined.
I thought that since I paid all my bills that everything was good?
I also thought that it is a little crazy for the state office to threaten to take away someone's state registration for missing 2 days of insurance payment?
I thought the insurance company handled insurance bills, and the state motor vehicle's office was not involved in the insurance companies' business matters; isn't it private information that should be kept at the insurance company?

(1/2)


What you're experiencing has to do with the province of Ontario's Uninsured Vehicle Project that they implemented in November 2010. This is a joint project between the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, and the Ministry of Transportation Ontario.



The goal of the project is to identify motorists who are driving their vehicles uninsured and to deny plate renewals in order to get these unsafe vehicles off the road. This is fundamentally a good thing and makes our roads safer. The biggest concern of the project is the 'wrongful denial of license plate renewal even though the customer is properly insured' (IBC Bulletin no. DQ-2010-07).



In cases where you have wrongfully been denied plate renewal there are Customer Resolve Measures available form the IBC :http://www.ibc.ca/en/DQ_Management/documents/DQ_Bulletins_2010/Customer%20Resolve%20Measures%20v1%205%201.pdf

(2/2)
In your specific case you need to determine whether your insurance was actually cancelled or not and if you were driving without insurance for a short period. You can ask your broker or agent if this was the case. If your insurance was reinstated and you were fully insured the whole time you should be able to have the $50 fee waived by informing the MTO that their info was incorrect. You'll need to provide proof of this from your insurer.

Sean Graham, Principal Broker at KTX Insurance Brokers

Thanks so much to both of you. Now it is clear to me. I am in USA and never have heard of this law before. It seems harsh to threaten people who are 2 days behind insurance payment to revoke their state registration. It seems to me it would only be fair if it was 20 days or 30 days without insurance. I will go into my insurance agency and question them to see how long my insurance was cancelled. But 2 days is not enough of a window to be threatened with a registration penalty. Thanks for the clear up.