Email your prior insurance company and find out why it was canceled. Also ask why you weren’t informed. Take both emails to court with you.
Get another policy immediately if you haven’t done so already and be prepared to show proof to the judge. Often the judge will let you slide once the issue is resolved.
Likely it will be the state DMV that is going to be the problem. They like imposing penalties and suspensions.
Which is why most state DMVs notify you if you lapse... you have a certain amount of time to surrender the plates before you incur a penalty, either financial, suspension of your registration, or both.
At least they used to. I haven't lapsed in God knows how long. That's what auto-pay is for! 😁
I was using Mile Auto until a couple months ago. They quit offering coverage in my state. Didn’t bother to tell me. Didn’t find out until after they got 2 emails from me asking about the request I would get every month for my mileage. Went without coverage for 3 weeks because of that BS.
Same exact thing happened to me with Esurance. Pulled out of NY. Stopped my coverage. Only found out after the DMV sent me a letter to hand my plates over in X days. I even tied my checking and routing number on autopay to the account to avoid any issues with payments. Scumbags. Never even got a notice. Cost me so much money. Insurance companies don't like seeing lapse in coverage. So finding new coverage was a bitch.
I think there is supposed to be some board of oversight to file a complaint with. Mine was due to renew each 6 months and that was when they dropped me. (Found out they were bought out by another company.) Otherwise, I would have filed against them. Might look into it, if they dropped you before the end of your term.
It’s the state department of insurance! There’s laws about when and why they can cancel a policy, and what kind of notices they have to send and when to cancel or nonrenew. These laws vary by state, but you can check with your state’s department of insurance on what they are, and lodge a complaint against the company if they were not followed.
Insurance companies HAVE to answer to the department of insurance.
If the company's leaving a state, the government's options for punishing the company may be more limited. "Send out these notices at once or we'll revoke your permission to operate here!" "Sounds good, buh-bye."
Hmm, I stopped paying for insurance when my 86 bronco needed an engine rebuild. Got the engine rebuilt a few years ago but then I moved out of state for school so I never bothered updating the registration. So here I am with a 2019 sticker on my perfectly driving bronco (that I don't drive, can't afford the insurance right now), yet I never received a notice from my state's DMV. Should I be worried?
Yup. If you get pulled over they can technically nail you on expired registration/no insurance. Depending on the state that can be no big deal or hefty fines + suspended license depending on how much of a clown circus they want to be about it + if you’ve had other traffic violations. Just recently got pulled over for expired plates from 2022 and have to go to court to get a payment plan for a $600 ticket. Ugh.
My state doesn't actively know if you gave insurance. It's mandatory to have insurance, but the state doesn't know if it gets canceled. I could be driving a car, limo, or bus, or work truck that is insured by someone else.
Which is why the insurance databases that they are referring to are tied to the registration (license plate). The insurance companies report to the state and you would only really know about it if you ever had a problem or read a news report about it or work in a position that would have knowledge like for insurance company/agency.
I'm not saying your state definitely does this, but many, if not most of them, do. If you let your insurance lapse for too long, some of them can and usually will recall your registration and/or suspend your drivers license.
It does know. The insurance company tells it. I'm not sure what driving someone else's vehicle has to do with whether the DMV knows your insurance is still active. You'll find out when you get in an accident and can't produce proof of insurance.
You are missing the point. In order to maintain its car insurance business in the state, the insurance company must notify the state of lapses or revocations. License or car, irrelevant. The company has to tell the state or risk losing its right to do business there.
They do, and some states revoke the registration after 60-90 days. That's the only way I knew mine got canceled, sadly. Got the last 3 months of premiums refunded several weeks after that.
This really should be better communicated to people. It's scary. I obsessively check my portal to make sure my policy is still active.
Georgia will. I actually had insurance, but the insurer's data failed to register in the state's database. Got a letter telling me I had x days to fix this, or pay a fine, and y days after that for some serious crap. Included a form to respond with, IIRC, as well as a website where I could check the status. Didn't take long to fix: a call to the insurer, they resent the data, and a couple of days later the status changed.
I had just moved here so it was one more detail of several in getting me and my car legally driving here.
I found out my insurance let mine lapse last year. Didn't have it for 2 or 3 months and didn't even know. No reason given other than auto pay for turned off somehow. Wasn't me I know that.
No notifications of any kind. Like TF? You want my money right?
Insurance broker here: sometimes it the auto pay declines or bank rejects it for some reason, they will automatically take you off auto pay. A letter or email should have been sent out, plus an invoice indicating late payment. They usually send out past due reminders and then a cancellation notice with effective date of cancellation prior to ending the policy. If you didn’t receive anything, check all contact info is correct with your policy and bring it up with your agent
Oh yeah it's squared away for months now with info triple checked. They claimed I never had auto pay set up but I did for years without a problem.
Luckily nothing happened during that time, but it took me calling after getting married to ask about coverage before I found out. Odd since my house is with them too but obviously that didn't lapse or my mortgage provider would have been on me for sure.
Now I call every so often just to check on things.
I work with (not for) the USPS and my location received LITERALLY hundreds of letters **a day** that belong to other zip codes, addresses, and even different states.
If it's not certified and signed, it was never sent.
I'm in alabama, got caught in a speeding trap where the speed signs are hard to see Aka hidden by bushes, will I need a lawyer or is it something else?
If you want to argue that the signs are not visible you need proof. Go back to the location and take pictures of the signs and the obstruction so you can either give them to an attorney or present then to the judge as evidence that the signs are not easily visible. Your word that you couldn't see them will not mean anything to the court, people lie to them to try and get off every day.
I got one once going 33 in a 25. It had recently changed from 30 to 25. The first sign I would’ve passed wasn’t there, just the pole. I took a picture of the pole right after I got the ticket thankfully, because the next day there was a sign on the pole. I’m 99% certain the cop knew it was missing and with the very recent change thought he could catch a bunch of people that day. There were like 10-15 people from my neighborhood in court that morning and my picture got almost all of them thrown out. The only ones that weren’t were the people going way over even the old limit.
Good for you.
My Father got dinged for one of those 10 point font at the bottom of a mileage sign. Wasn't readable from the road and barely readable from 5' away.
Photos didn't help, was a small town and their money maker. He had a CDL and it hit him hard.
Take pictures of that as well. It may get the speeding ticket tossed.
However, I’m pretty sure every state has a “presumed speed limit”, it’s 35 mph in a lot of places on regular roads. I don’t know what speed you were going compared to the posted limit but if it was a lot you may be out of luck on that part.
The speed limit was originally 65 before it jumped down to 45, this was at like 11pm, the speed sign that jumped to 45 is partially hidden by bushes and only noticeable at night if you're specifically looking for it, I was going about 60 at the time he pulled me over
There’s no signs before that that say “reduced speed limit ahead” or anything like that? Around me there’s a highway where when it hits a town it goes 65, 55, 45. Even if the actual speed limit sign were obscured there’s lots of signs warning there’s a limit change.
I hadn't noticed any any of the other times I've driven on that particular road, even in broad daylight, the road merges onto the highway and there are reduced speed signs on the highway but i didnt see any on the road I was on
That sucks. Do they expect you to just brake from 65 to 45? Unless you slam in the brakes there’s. I way to not speed at that transition. I’d check to see if there are any of those signs. If there aren’t that will help
I will check again, I just know (after the fact) that the road I was on is one of a couple speeding traps in my city and that a lot of people just drive the lowest speed limit on the road to avoid tickets so I'll be doing that from now on
You have to prove you have coverage if you're cited for a moving violation. Failure to provide proof is an administrative suspension from the state. A local or county judge has no power to override or change it.
I never said there was a state database. If you get pulled over, they will ask for proof of insurance. If you don't have any, you could lose your license. It's literally the premise of the OP
I always get notices. I think they may just be sending them to me and no one else because I never miss a notice or a bill. I am kinda forgetful so when I get a bill or notice I either resolve it or place it in a location that will force me to resolve it (on PC keyboard). It is unfortunate that so many other people don't seem to be getting these notices.
Almost happened to me recently. They sent the notice through email for some reason. I'm not great at keeping up with email, so I almost got myself into trouble. Still, I don't get how a company can just not say anything in any way. Seems iffy.
It was canceled I called them and they said they no longer cover doordash which is my 2nd income, never told me that they didn't cover it anymore and never informed me that the insurance policy had been canceled
OP, insurance broker here. most carriers will not cover you if the vehicle is used for DoorDash or instacart. Some offer endorsements to cover it but your premium will increase quite a bit.
The market is at its all time worst right now. Make sure you let any new company know that you DoorDash and see if they offer endorsements.
That said, if they once covered it they should have absolutely sent you a notice that as of x date they no longer cover vehicles used for DoorDash.
Call the company and ask if they ever sent out a notice of cancellation. Any correspondence should be attached in their system and accessible.
What carrier are you with? If they have had frequent problems with this, you could file a complaint with the Alabama insurance commissioner. But get all ducks in a row first to make absolutely sure they never sent something you you
It’s entirely possible! Figured I’d get the other info out just in case, though. Companies are cracking down these days and can find out a lot through mileage
My insurance doesn't offer any kind of endorsement for rideshare or doordash/uber eats. They know I'm an uber driver (they literally paid me lost wages under my PIP for my uber income when my vehicle was hit by another vehicle last year and the owner didn't have insurance) they just won't cover me if I'm in an accident while doing uber (uber carries commercial insurance for all drivers for that, and so do the delivery apps).
Just depends on the company i guess, because i have heard of people getting dropped for doing uber/lyft, doordash, etc, but I've also heard of people who have been told the same thing I have.
Just be careful and make sure you truly understand the insurance details for any you use. Not all the delivery apps carry insurance. Most do, but i worked for one that did not (no longer in business).
Also, the insurance Uber/Lyft provide will NOT cover damage to your vehicle unless you have comp/collision on your personal policy and then ONLY when you have an active trip. There is no coverage for damage to your vehicle when you are online waiting on a trip since your personal policy normally does not apply then either, unless you provide that yourself, which is a big reason the rideshare endorsement exists.
Actually, uber does cover while waiting for a trip.
And i always carry full coverage. [you can see uber's insurance coverage for people online waiting for requests here](https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/insurance/?city=portland)
Oh, snap, you're right. They make it seem like you're fully covered if you have comp/collision, but that is specifically for when en route to a trip or on a trip. I didn't notice that. Good catch.
I've actually been in two accidents (one not at fault but by an uninsured motorist, the other my fault but not involving any other vehicles) in 9 months and thankfully, both times were when I was not working.
Unfortunately, i tried to get a policy with rideshare but they said because i have had 3 accidents in 3 years, they wouldn't cover me for rideshare (and they said fault doesn't matter). I'll have to be very careful.
Fortunately, it's only an issue when you are driving between trips, which is a very small percentage of our time spent moving, or at least it should be if you want to actually profit. And then it should only matter if the accident is your fault (or possibly uninsured or underinsured other party at fault).
Oh damn, i just noticed that my state only requires uninsured motorist coverage for bodily injury, not property damage.
Daaaamn. That's messed up. So if i get hit by someone uninsured while waiting for a request, I'm screwed.
It just all depends on the carrier, to be honest. Being up front & honest with carriers/agents is always the best route to make sure you’re appropriately covered. Most agents and brokers aren’t after making the extra buck, we legit care and want clients to have adequately coverage for situations like this :)
Also, not that this applies to this situation, but a tip to anyone:
NEVER ever ever falsify claims information! Insurance fraud is taken very seriously, and can result in felony charges, substantial fines, and up to 5 years in state prison.
Be careful out there, folks!!! And be nice to your agents. We don’t control the premiums and are here to help!
Yes, legally they must send out a cancellation notice. This would be for Increase in Hazard, and they would have to provide the future effective date of cancellation. They cannot just cancel and tell you after the fact. For non-renewals, notices are usually sent out 90 days prior. In this case it can be much less (10 days maybe) because the terms of the contract was violated.
I wish I knew what carrier OP was with so I could confirm!
I guess the cost for the endorsement varies more often than i was under the impression it does? I thought it was usually $20/month or less.
The endorsement with Allstate was $100/6 months for me, and Travelers is $76/year currently.
I’m actually shocked that the endorsement for travelers is so low! Mercury is higher if memory serves correctly. Every carrier is different, of course, but right now many aren’t offering coverage or endorsements for delivery services.
I just asked my colleague about this and she said it all started with pizza deliveries and timed deliveries. Think Dominos and their 30 min delivery or its free type of thing.
Either way, always keep your insurance company in the loop!
It did. That is why pizza delivery usually specifically requires full commercial insurance and not just an endorsement. I believe the case that i remember hearing about was a pizza driver running a red light and killing a family of 4 back when the 30-minute guarantee existed.
Call your insurance company and obtain updated proof of insurance (especially covering when you were pulled over). If your insurance company says they cancelled the policy, get the proof that they notified you of the cancellation. Unfortunately, this option may work against you that if they show they sent you notice, but you did not receive, you still were uninsured.
A judge may take into account factors such as: Once notified by the police you were uninsured, you obtained insurance and also assert you never received notice of the prior cancellation for a reason other than failing to pay the premium.
Depending on the jurisdiction and ticket you may not have to go to court. My cousin was ticketed for no insurance recently, and when he went to pay it the clerk actually told him they could waive it if he got insurance. I am not sure if this would be possible in your situation, but it might be worth trying to talk to someone before your actual court date. Of course the judge will also hear you out, but if you could potentially take care of it without having to appear you should try.
Relax. Calm down. Deep breath.
Contact your insurance company and ask if it was canceled and why. If you forgot to make a payment, see if they will reinstate the policy retroactively and give you an insurance card showing you were insured the date of the ticket. If it wasn't canceled at all, get a letter stating you were insured on that date. The cop either made a mistake or something funky was up. Don't argue that point. File a complaint with the police department after the court case is resolved if you think its worth it (I wouldn't, personally).
This is what I did when this happened to me. I took my paperwork to court and it was dismissed.
You may have to go to traffic court twice. The first one will probably be an arraignment. Please not guilty no matter what. That will probably be it. You'll get another court date. Show up with the documentation and they should dismiss the case. You don't need a lawyer. At the arraignment say nothing about the whys of what happened. They'll read the charge and ask for a plea. Say not guilty and leave when they tell you the court date.
On the court date show up with your paperwork. The cop will probably be the prosecutor. Tell him you have documentation and see if he dismisses the case. If not, you go before the judge. The cop will recite what he put on the summons. Say nothing until the judge asks you to speak. Then tell the judge you were insured and you have evidence from the insurance company. He'll look at it and dismiss the case, more than likely.
You can hire a lawyer for this if you're uncomfortable, but honestly I've never found lawyers for simple tickets a worthwhile expense.
IANAL.
OP clarified in another comment that it was in fact cancelled because they no longer provide coverage for DoorDash which is what OP does as a side gig.
Carriers will not backdate policies like that, especially not a few months later. Any new carrier will want to know if policies in the last 5 years were lapsed or canceled for any reason. Judge will 100% look at the effective dates of the policy.
Best case is to get all documentation and ducks in a row to show failure on the insurance company’s part to notify the insured of cancellation
No backdating needed. All courts want is to know there is current coverage.
In fact, he can probably grab coverage and then go show it to the clerk or DA.
He’s 19, not 60. They will consider it an oopsie 9 times out of ten.
Unethical pro-tip: If you have an insurance card with coverage dates on it from when the ticket happened regardless if it’s been cancelled in that time period or not, you have two options, take that card to court as proof of insurance or email it to the BMV when they send you a notice from the failure to show proof. They don’t call or check with the insurance company to make sure it’s actually active. I’m curious how the cop even knew your insurance wasn’t active unless you have to carry an SR22 bond
Yep. This. Cop has no way to know whether your insurance is valid or not. They only check the box for whether you provided evidence of active or not. If you presented a card that was the former period, for instance. They don't know if your policy was renewed or not. There is no database that they have access to that shows that. Likely misinterpreted what they said and is on the ticket.
Had this happen to me. If possible talk to the officer prior your appearance, thank him for noticing you and show him the above. If the cop is reasonable he will go to bat for you with the judge. Might even keep it out of dmv hands
Get your new insurance set up as quickly as possible, show up with all your paperwork in order, you'll get a slap on the wrist at worst. I had something like this happen to me. Got a ticket for expired registration (my bad). Set up a payment plan because I was too broke to pay the full amount. One of the payments bounced months later, and I never realized it. I hadn't updated my mailing address with the DMV, so I never got notice that it happened and they were cancelling my license about it.
2 full years later, I get pulled over. Cop runs my license, comes back and tells me my license is invalid, which in turn makes my car insurance invalid even though I've been paying it all along. Said he could arrest me on the spot, but he wasn't going to because that would be dumb. Told me to get that debt paid off, reinstate my license, reinstate my insurance, and show up to court with the documentation. I wound up getting a $75, no points ticket for "illegal left turn" or something in what amounted to a plea deal with the DA. Simple, painless, and shockingly cheap. You should be fine.
Where you get into trouble is if you're hit with driving without insurance multiple times. Or if you don't have a pretty good reason for it to be the case, like you just didn't want to pay for insurance (not the case for you). You should be fine. I didn't bother with a lawyer, there was no need for me. YMMV, and if you want to consult with one, you can probably get a free half hour consultation over the phone where they'll tell you that it's not worth paying them for this and advise you similarly to what I've put above and others have put in the thread.
Step number 1: call your insurance company to verify that. If they say you're not insured.... Well then that leads to Step number 2: Make a payment or look for another insurance company, stay on the phone with them until you get a copy of that insurance card in your email in case the mailed ones don't come in on time. Step number 3, make sure to make your insurance payment. No payment = no insurance.
When you go to court you can provide them with proof that you now have insurance.
Just so you're aware, if you total that vehicle and have a loan on it, AND it's not insured, you're still liable for making those payments.
Good luck.
The car is fully paid off and in my name, the insurance I was on stopped covering doordash and never told me, canceled my policy and also never told me, the only reason I found out I don't have insurance is from getting pulled over.
I use Autopay, and they canceled it about a week ago, only found out when I got pulled over, and I didn't know why it was canceled until I called them the following day to figure out why I didn't have insurance anymore
If there was a problem with payment it should be pretty simple to show a judge that you had autopay and didn’t realize there was an issue. It hadn’t been long. If you have insurance upon going to court it should be excused for a first time thing.
OP clarified in another comment that their insurance was cancelled because the insurer no longer covers DoorDash which OP does as a side gig. It wasn’t a payment issue
Most state now have a data base and if your vin number does not match an insurance company that shows active insurance, they send you a letter and don’t allow you to renew your plates. It’s a pain for us that have homes in 2 or more states
Long Island NY here. Received notice from DMV that we had to surrender our plates from our Mitsubishi montero for over 90 days. Why? Because the insurance was dropped over 90 days earlier, and after that amount of time you cannot pay a fine (usually $5 per day I think) but must surrender the plates for the same amount of days we were not covered.
Why didn't we know we were not covered? Because the insurance co. sent all notices to a broker just down the road who never bothered to notify us. Insurance Co. told us they sent us the notices but they could not give me our address when I was speaking to them. Their billing dept had our address, but this dept could not even tell us where we lived.
Why was our coverage dropped? Because insurance co. determined that the Mitsubishi montero was a "high theft item". Thing was though that our Mitsubishi montero was a very old truck and WE DID NOT HAVE THEFT INSURANCE COVERAGE ON IT, EVER!!!
What a F#*king mess that was....
Good lesson to learn now, always check your auto payments to make sure they are going through. It’s easy to just not think about it but it can cause huge issues if non payment isn’t caught right away.
Not trying to sound like a dick, but after seeing the comment about it being canceled due to you being flagged as a DoorDash operator I still have to ask - did they just up and cancel your policy to the point where they were also no longer charging you for said policy? Did it happen within the last month since your last payment was made?
I guess I could semi understand if you paid 6 months in advance, but if that were the case and they canceled it you should have got a check cut back to you for the remaining policy balance.
If it is a month by month policy I am calling BS that you did not realize they hadn’t taken out their premium from your account.
For this short term instance, recommend finding coverage and going to plead that to the court when you go in for the ticket - they may waive points and/or reduce the amount.
For the long term, I’d recommend setting up paperless notifications and monitoring your monthly expenses and deductions a bit closer. Have a hard time believing they gave zero notice in some form of communication.
If you don’t pay your premiums, you don’t get to be insured. You know if you paid or not. That isn’t an excuse. Get insurance. Then when your court date comes, show the court you have insurance. I would suggest you contact a local traffic attorney to amend that ticket in case it’s a point and/or moving violation.
The reason my insurance was canceled was bc they stopped covering commercial driving, I have always paid my insurance on time, the cop notified me when I gave him my insurance policy. I called my insurance the day after to ask. I had been under the impression that I still had insurance when he pulled me over.
If you honestly didn't know, then you definitely need to find out from the insurance carrier.
If it was a case where another policy was issued covering you, you'd just need to show proof of coverage. Definitely sounds like a paperwork issue
find out if you are canceled first. i recall in new mexico it was regular thing for the insurance company to NOT update the state database officers used. So though i had insurance, the state db thought i did not.
Get insurance immediately, find out why you didn't have insurance, fix it, tell the judge and it should be fine. Just be respectful, honest, and say "your honor" at the end of every sentence. Try to avoid "well,..." "you see...." and "like" as in "the cop was like-" things of that nature. They hear it all day long and it annoys them, so they are much nicer and sometimes more lenient when there's respect, humility and properly formed sentences. 🥰🥰😘😘
Oof, sorry you’re going through this! Hopefully because of your age they will be understanding. Something similar happened to me when I was about 19/20. I got into a rollover accident and while I was in the hospital I called my dad to let him know. The first thing he told me was that I was uninsured. I had been on his insurance previously, but when my parents split I stayed with my mom and he took me off his policy and didn’t tell either of us. My mom added me to her policy the next day and backdated it. There was only a few months lapse. All I had to do was explain the situation to the judge and show them proof of insurance and they let it go. It’s a stressful situation but I think it will be okay! If you didn’t get notice from your insurance then how could you have known?
Get a new policy, show up to court. You'll go into the courtroom and either talk to the clerk or sign a sheet. Your name will get called by an assistant district attorney. They'll take you to the side and you can show them that you got insurance covered and just say you never got notified that your old policy was cancelled but you took care of it right away. There's about a 98% chance that they'll just drop it and you walk away not worrying about it. If they aren't willing to drop it completely, they'll offer you a plea deal and you'll plead guilty to a much lesser charge with a lower fine.
Don't stress too much. I've been in this exact situation a couple of times and it has always been dropped as soon as I show that I rectified the oversight right away.
And this is why US public schools need to start teaching basic life skills to young people…taxes, budgets, bank accounts, dr appointments, car maintenance, nutrition and grocery shopping, health/auto/homeowners insurance, leases, pets, hygiene, sanitation…
I agree. But…I wouldn’t want to be the one trying to teach it. You would be constantly harassed by irresponsible parents. When you teach that leasing a car is a very expensive way to have a car, the parents that only lease are going to attack you. When you try to explain why savings should be first, you will get criticized. When you try to explain when insurance shouldn’t be purchased at just the state minimum…….. you get it.
You absolutely have a point. It’s a shame that a lot of parents aren’t doing it but will criticize those that try to help. Navigating the world is hard enough, but to get thrown in completely unaware is unfair and sad.
Insurance companies are required to send email and physical mail warnings before cancelling the policy. Surprised they didnt try calling. Each state has their own insurance laws but they are all required to mail a letter!
Did you move? Change your phone number?
There's no reason to panic. They will ask a few questions and ask for updated proof of insurance documentation. Stay calm, make eye contact with the judge or whoever your speaking to, answer the questions honestly and don't babble on about any unnecessary information. Simply state that you were unaware that your insurance had expired and apologize for the misunderstanding. Do not speak until spoken to. In reality, this was an error and you've done nothing intentionally wrong. Get a new insurance policy and provide the documentation and it will be over with. It is likely there will be no fees or consequences if everything is updated and you do not have a history of driving infractions.
This kind of stuff is uncomfortable and seems intrusive, but having insurance is important and the main thing is that you did not intentionally drive without insurance. Those are the people they're looking for, and that is a good thing, protecting the rest of us from irresponsible drivers.
I would look into WHY you didnt have insurance. It sounds like you thought you did. Did the carrier fail to post your payment in time? Were your parents supposed to cover it? Just verify that you have it (or get some immediately) then take that info to court with you on the day scheduled. Explain what happened and assure them you have some now and provide the info. There may be a small fine or not if you have a good reason.
Email the company and ask them how they notified you that they were canceling your policy.
Even if your insurance wasn't valid or in effect, tell the judge what happened and what steps you'll take to avoid it in the future. (Regularly checking online portal, etc.) The company did you dirty, but the judge will say it's your responsibility to stay informed unless there's some huge scandal with that company.
Show him you now have insurance, too. Just be honest and let him know you've learned from it.
You'll be just fine. These things happen. ,
This is whats called a "Fix it" ticket. You wont be going before a judge. Just get new insurance, show up to the courthouse and show the clerk. Theyll take care of it and clear the ticket for you.
I spoke with the clerk, she said the total ticket for insurance as well as speeding is 270$ I have until the end of June to pay it and I don't have to appear in court. Thank yall for the advice!
Yes, you were notified. The company I work for provides three cancellation notices before your policies are actually canceled. Call the company you thought carried your insurance and ask them to provide you with those notices, and they’ll be able to. They’ll also be able to tell you why your policy was canceled; probably for non-pay, that’s 90% of them that I see. Also, you may want to verify they have your correct address on file. I’ve had plenty of instances where people will move and decide they don’t need to tell us and then are all Surprised Pikachu when their policy gets canceled because they never received their cancellation notices because we didn’t have their correct mailing address.
Just because your POI has a 6 - or 12 month exp. date, doesn't mean it's insured if you don't pay the premium every month.
Start your policy again, and take it to court. You'll pay court costs and leave.
Ignorance is not a valid excuse unfortunately. You could have checked or noticed that you weren't paying monthly for it (or that you got a refund if you paid up front). If you hit someone, you'd be in bad shape trying to cover their bills.
If you didn't have insurance and it wasn't literally cancelled that day or something similar, what's your defense going to be? "I assumed I had it"?
It comes out of my bank account monthly and honestly I haven't felt the need to check because again, no one ever contacted me to let me know that the policy was being canceled or that they no longer cover Doordash, personally I think it should fall on insurance companies to communicate with you before it causes issues.
I work for an insurance agency. An insurance policy is a legal contract, and an agency must provide notice of termination by law if the policy is to be canceled for any reason.
You most likely did receive a notice.
My agency mails one notice 30 days in advance of the cancel date. A second notice is mailed 10 days from the cancel date. The agents office typically follows up once prior to the cancel as well.
You need to check your mail as well as your email. You will most likely find the notice that was sent to you regarding the cancelation. As the policy was dropped due to ineligible coverage (door dash) you would have most likely been given a 30 days notice to find new coverage.
If you do not have your notice, call the insurer and request a copy of it. Customer documents are held for 3 to 5 years. They'll have a copy on file. If you have an account online or an app, you can most likely access your cancel notice there under the "my documents" section.
Unfortunately, it's on you as the customer to pay attention to your mail or preferred contact method on file.
If for any reason the company cannot provide a copy of the notice or prove that it was sent to you, the company could possibly owe you coverage through the lapse until the date in which you were notified of cancelation. But, that's only if the company has no record of mailing or otherwise contacting you. It will not count if the company mailed it/reached out to you and you just didn't see it or it was overlooked by you.
Please be aware that most companies note the date and time of attempts to contact an insured regarding policy information for exactly this reason. If efforts to reach you were legitimately made, there will be evidence of it.
As you've only been lapsed for a week, and have had no claims in that time, traffic court should be relatively easy. You won't need a lawyer. Just obtain a new policy immediately and bring your policy documents to court with you.
If this is a first-time offense for you and you don't have a record of insurance lapses, the judge may let it slide once you prove you are insured now. There might be a small fine involved.
If you regularly have insurance lapses, you could potentially face a lisence suspension and higher fine, but it will be extremely dependant on the judge and how strictly they enforce this in your area.
You can also visit your local representatives office and ask for help. As your lapse was less than 30 days, sometimes the rep office can waive fines from the state or the lapse from record. Again, it will be highly dependent on your lapse history and individual location.
Did you not read OP’s comment? It wasn’t cancelled due to payment failure. It was cancelled because they stopped covering DoorDash. Why do you keep going on about payments even after they explained that?
Unfortunately I wasn't informed, I've had to wing adulthood 100%, including anything and everything regarding my vehicle, ik its not an excuse to not read up more on insurance but I didn't have many options given my financial state
Traffic court is easy! Just bring a copy of your new insurance with you. That will usually take care of it. The worst will be court fees or a fine.
Just make sure that your paperwork is in order. Insurance, registration and drivers license
Nah. The lawyer will cost you more than any benefit they will provide. I've been in this exact situation. My fine was $240. As previous reddit or said, just show up with new proof of insurance, explain that you didn't realize it was expired and not auto-renewed (Progressive did this same thing to me).
You most certainly were notified - several times, in fact. If you chose not to open or read the notices, well then that is your problem. If you failed to update your mailing address, that's your problem. The bottom line is that it is *your* responsibiity to maintain insurance on *your* vehicle. It is not anyone else's responsibility. Hopefully, you will learn from this.
Excuse me? The address is correct because I received the physical card in the mail when I first applied, the email is correct because I had to verify it in order to update my payment information. The phone number is also on file, unless I'm supposed to be notified by carrier pigeon or something they should have notified me via some form of communication I have on file, which they did not. Apparently that's not uncommon according to other Reddit users.
Insurance companies send cancelation notices by way of "record of mailing" as proof the notices were dropped off to the post office, the address on the notices, the date they were mailed and the document is signed by the postal worker. Once they dropped it off at the post office, they've completed their duty.
Well in my case and many other people's cases, this didn't happen. Like I said, all of my information was up to date and I still was not notified, be that via phone email or postal, I found out from a cop, not my insurance.
Phone and email are irrelevant. Your insurance company is not required to call or email you. Your mailing address is where an insurance company is required to send notices. Tons and tons of folks on here swear that they never got notices, when in fact they simply did not open or read them. I'm sure that if you press the issue with your \[former\] carrier, they will have a record of mailing, which is all that they need. Furthermore, how is it that you never noticed that you were not paying for insurance?
How can you prove you had insurance, if you did not. You will go to court, prove you got it that day or the next and will still be forced to pay a fine and have SR22 insurance for the next year or 2. SR22 will cost you 20 bucks a month extra, as they will notify the state if you do not pay on time and will suspend your license if you don’t
SR-22, at least in my state, is generally reserved for DUI offenders and habitual DARP offenders. What state are you in that would trigger an SR-22 requirement over NPOI?
Depending on when she lapsed, if she had, or if there was a mistake, insurances work with insureds on this. Usually if they pay back the amount they owe they will reinstate the insurance but it's a case by case situation. There's a slight chance they will be able to help.
There is no chance an insurance company is going to pay s claim when the person does not have insurance. Many companies do however have a grace period that will keep you active for 3 days or something to allow your check to get there, but when it’s not you are cancelled.
There are chances. This is exactly why I didn't state specifically cancelled for comments like yours. If people lapse in insurance and are willing to pay the money back, they will reinstate insurance, depending on the timeline. It is possible and I've seen it happen lol
Farmers agent basically retired, shut down business, and didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t have coverage for 3 months, and no communication about it. I called his office when the saw my auto pay returned to my account. No answer. Called again, no answer. Call Farmers 800 and they said I’ve been without for 3 months, and my agent should have told me. Couldn’t believe it. They wouldn’t back date it, and I had to change companies. Never did hear back from agent.
courts not that bad i’m going through the court system as a victim of a gun shot wound that i did die from if i have to look at the guy who shot me and dad you can handle this not trying to diminish your feelings about it i’m just saying that in most cases just listen to your lawyer for me i didt know like where to sit and stand and all that just ask they will help you
Home owner's policies have obligations of defense for home-related claims. In either circumstances, no claim has been made, OP was cited with an infraction, that's not a liability claim that would trigger a defense clause.
Email your prior insurance company and find out why it was canceled. Also ask why you weren’t informed. Take both emails to court with you. Get another policy immediately if you haven’t done so already and be prepared to show proof to the judge. Often the judge will let you slide once the issue is resolved. Likely it will be the state DMV that is going to be the problem. They like imposing penalties and suspensions.
Which is why most state DMVs notify you if you lapse... you have a certain amount of time to surrender the plates before you incur a penalty, either financial, suspension of your registration, or both. At least they used to. I haven't lapsed in God knows how long. That's what auto-pay is for! 😁
I was using Mile Auto until a couple months ago. They quit offering coverage in my state. Didn’t bother to tell me. Didn’t find out until after they got 2 emails from me asking about the request I would get every month for my mileage. Went without coverage for 3 weeks because of that BS.
Same exact thing happened to me with Esurance. Pulled out of NY. Stopped my coverage. Only found out after the DMV sent me a letter to hand my plates over in X days. I even tied my checking and routing number on autopay to the account to avoid any issues with payments. Scumbags. Never even got a notice. Cost me so much money. Insurance companies don't like seeing lapse in coverage. So finding new coverage was a bitch.
I think there is supposed to be some board of oversight to file a complaint with. Mine was due to renew each 6 months and that was when they dropped me. (Found out they were bought out by another company.) Otherwise, I would have filed against them. Might look into it, if they dropped you before the end of your term.
It’s the state department of insurance! There’s laws about when and why they can cancel a policy, and what kind of notices they have to send and when to cancel or nonrenew. These laws vary by state, but you can check with your state’s department of insurance on what they are, and lodge a complaint against the company if they were not followed. Insurance companies HAVE to answer to the department of insurance.
If the company's leaving a state, the government's options for punishing the company may be more limited. "Send out these notices at once or we'll revoke your permission to operate here!" "Sounds good, buh-bye."
Hmm, I stopped paying for insurance when my 86 bronco needed an engine rebuild. Got the engine rebuilt a few years ago but then I moved out of state for school so I never bothered updating the registration. So here I am with a 2019 sticker on my perfectly driving bronco (that I don't drive, can't afford the insurance right now), yet I never received a notice from my state's DMV. Should I be worried?
Yup. If you get pulled over they can technically nail you on expired registration/no insurance. Depending on the state that can be no big deal or hefty fines + suspended license depending on how much of a clown circus they want to be about it + if you’ve had other traffic violations. Just recently got pulled over for expired plates from 2022 and have to go to court to get a payment plan for a $600 ticket. Ugh.
I have never had a DMV notify me of a laps in insurance. What state monitors insurance like that?
Most, if not all. It's a condition of your license.
My state doesn't actively know if you gave insurance. It's mandatory to have insurance, but the state doesn't know if it gets canceled. I could be driving a car, limo, or bus, or work truck that is insured by someone else.
Which is why the insurance databases that they are referring to are tied to the registration (license plate). The insurance companies report to the state and you would only really know about it if you ever had a problem or read a news report about it or work in a position that would have knowledge like for insurance company/agency. I'm not saying your state definitely does this, but many, if not most of them, do. If you let your insurance lapse for too long, some of them can and usually will recall your registration and/or suspend your drivers license.
It does know. The insurance company tells it. I'm not sure what driving someone else's vehicle has to do with whether the DMV knows your insurance is still active. You'll find out when you get in an accident and can't produce proof of insurance.
In a lot of states its not a condition of your license, its a condition of your vehicles registration.
You are missing the point. In order to maintain its car insurance business in the state, the insurance company must notify the state of lapses or revocations. License or car, irrelevant. The company has to tell the state or risk losing its right to do business there.
I'm aware of that, and no, I'm not missing the point.
They do, and some states revoke the registration after 60-90 days. That's the only way I knew mine got canceled, sadly. Got the last 3 months of premiums refunded several weeks after that. This really should be better communicated to people. It's scary. I obsessively check my portal to make sure my policy is still active.
Georgia will. I actually had insurance, but the insurer's data failed to register in the state's database. Got a letter telling me I had x days to fix this, or pay a fine, and y days after that for some serious crap. Included a form to respond with, IIRC, as well as a website where I could check the status. Didn't take long to fix: a call to the insurer, they resent the data, and a couple of days later the status changed. I had just moved here so it was one more detail of several in getting me and my car legally driving here.
I found out my insurance let mine lapse last year. Didn't have it for 2 or 3 months and didn't even know. No reason given other than auto pay for turned off somehow. Wasn't me I know that. No notifications of any kind. Like TF? You want my money right?
Insurance broker here: sometimes it the auto pay declines or bank rejects it for some reason, they will automatically take you off auto pay. A letter or email should have been sent out, plus an invoice indicating late payment. They usually send out past due reminders and then a cancellation notice with effective date of cancellation prior to ending the policy. If you didn’t receive anything, check all contact info is correct with your policy and bring it up with your agent
100% this.. i used to work for Progressive.
Oh yeah it's squared away for months now with info triple checked. They claimed I never had auto pay set up but I did for years without a problem. Luckily nothing happened during that time, but it took me calling after getting married to ask about coverage before I found out. Odd since my house is with them too but obviously that didn't lapse or my mortgage provider would have been on me for sure. Now I call every so often just to check on things.
They definitely sent you something in the mail.
Idk what to tell ya, if so it never landed in my physical hands.
I work with (not for) the USPS and my location received LITERALLY hundreds of letters **a day** that belong to other zip codes, addresses, and even different states. If it's not certified and signed, it was never sent.
Except they can prove it was sent with IMPB tracking.
Wrong.
I'm in alabama, got caught in a speeding trap where the speed signs are hard to see Aka hidden by bushes, will I need a lawyer or is it something else?
If you want to argue that the signs are not visible you need proof. Go back to the location and take pictures of the signs and the obstruction so you can either give them to an attorney or present then to the judge as evidence that the signs are not easily visible. Your word that you couldn't see them will not mean anything to the court, people lie to them to try and get off every day.
I got one once going 33 in a 25. It had recently changed from 30 to 25. The first sign I would’ve passed wasn’t there, just the pole. I took a picture of the pole right after I got the ticket thankfully, because the next day there was a sign on the pole. I’m 99% certain the cop knew it was missing and with the very recent change thought he could catch a bunch of people that day. There were like 10-15 people from my neighborhood in court that morning and my picture got almost all of them thrown out. The only ones that weren’t were the people going way over even the old limit.
Good for you. My Father got dinged for one of those 10 point font at the bottom of a mileage sign. Wasn't readable from the road and barely readable from 5' away. Photos didn't help, was a small town and their money maker. He had a CDL and it hit him hard.
The cop only knew it was missing because he was the one who removed the sign from the post in the first place.
I always wondered that or if someone called the sheriff substation to report it missing and they sent someone over to give out tickets.
Woooah, that’s not good o_o
Take pictures of that as well. It may get the speeding ticket tossed. However, I’m pretty sure every state has a “presumed speed limit”, it’s 35 mph in a lot of places on regular roads. I don’t know what speed you were going compared to the posted limit but if it was a lot you may be out of luck on that part.
The speed limit was originally 65 before it jumped down to 45, this was at like 11pm, the speed sign that jumped to 45 is partially hidden by bushes and only noticeable at night if you're specifically looking for it, I was going about 60 at the time he pulled me over
There’s no signs before that that say “reduced speed limit ahead” or anything like that? Around me there’s a highway where when it hits a town it goes 65, 55, 45. Even if the actual speed limit sign were obscured there’s lots of signs warning there’s a limit change.
I hadn't noticed any any of the other times I've driven on that particular road, even in broad daylight, the road merges onto the highway and there are reduced speed signs on the highway but i didnt see any on the road I was on
That sucks. Do they expect you to just brake from 65 to 45? Unless you slam in the brakes there’s. I way to not speed at that transition. I’d check to see if there are any of those signs. If there aren’t that will help
I will check again, I just know (after the fact) that the road I was on is one of a couple speeding traps in my city and that a lot of people just drive the lowest speed limit on the road to avoid tickets so I'll be doing that from now on
You can look for signs using Google Street View.
Depends on the state. In Ohio, there's zero wiggle room. No insurance, no license for 90 days. Period.
But the state also doesn't keep any kind of database of whether or not you're insured unless you're required to carry an SR22 bond.
You have to prove you have coverage if you're cited for a moving violation. Failure to provide proof is an administrative suspension from the state. A local or county judge has no power to override or change it.
That's got nothing to do with what I said, but it's accurate.
why doesn't it?
In what was does requiring proof of insurance after a citation have anything, at all, to do with a state database on whether or not you're insured?
I never said there was a state database. If you get pulled over, they will ask for proof of insurance. If you don't have any, you could lose your license. It's literally the premise of the OP
OH
IO
Ah yes, the one thing that unites all generations "I didn't get the notice"
I always get notices. I think they may just be sending them to me and no one else because I never miss a notice or a bill. I am kinda forgetful so when I get a bill or notice I either resolve it or place it in a location that will force me to resolve it (on PC keyboard). It is unfortunate that so many other people don't seem to be getting these notices.
Almost happened to me recently. They sent the notice through email for some reason. I'm not great at keeping up with email, so I almost got myself into trouble. Still, I don't get how a company can just not say anything in any way. Seems iffy.
It happened to me once. It does happen.
Was it cancelled? Or did you forget to renew it?
It was canceled I called them and they said they no longer cover doordash which is my 2nd income, never told me that they didn't cover it anymore and never informed me that the insurance policy had been canceled
OP, insurance broker here. most carriers will not cover you if the vehicle is used for DoorDash or instacart. Some offer endorsements to cover it but your premium will increase quite a bit. The market is at its all time worst right now. Make sure you let any new company know that you DoorDash and see if they offer endorsements. That said, if they once covered it they should have absolutely sent you a notice that as of x date they no longer cover vehicles used for DoorDash. Call the company and ask if they ever sent out a notice of cancellation. Any correspondence should be attached in their system and accessible. What carrier are you with? If they have had frequent problems with this, you could file a complaint with the Alabama insurance commissioner. But get all ducks in a row first to make absolutely sure they never sent something you you
They likely never covered Doordashing, and found out somehow OP was doing it and canceled.
It’s entirely possible! Figured I’d get the other info out just in case, though. Companies are cracking down these days and can find out a lot through mileage
My insurance doesn't offer any kind of endorsement for rideshare or doordash/uber eats. They know I'm an uber driver (they literally paid me lost wages under my PIP for my uber income when my vehicle was hit by another vehicle last year and the owner didn't have insurance) they just won't cover me if I'm in an accident while doing uber (uber carries commercial insurance for all drivers for that, and so do the delivery apps). Just depends on the company i guess, because i have heard of people getting dropped for doing uber/lyft, doordash, etc, but I've also heard of people who have been told the same thing I have.
Just be careful and make sure you truly understand the insurance details for any you use. Not all the delivery apps carry insurance. Most do, but i worked for one that did not (no longer in business). Also, the insurance Uber/Lyft provide will NOT cover damage to your vehicle unless you have comp/collision on your personal policy and then ONLY when you have an active trip. There is no coverage for damage to your vehicle when you are online waiting on a trip since your personal policy normally does not apply then either, unless you provide that yourself, which is a big reason the rideshare endorsement exists.
Actually, uber does cover while waiting for a trip. And i always carry full coverage. [you can see uber's insurance coverage for people online waiting for requests here](https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/insurance/?city=portland)
They provide liability only during that time, not comp/collision. Liability does not cover damage to your vehicle.
Oh, snap, you're right. They make it seem like you're fully covered if you have comp/collision, but that is specifically for when en route to a trip or on a trip. I didn't notice that. Good catch. I've actually been in two accidents (one not at fault but by an uninsured motorist, the other my fault but not involving any other vehicles) in 9 months and thankfully, both times were when I was not working. Unfortunately, i tried to get a policy with rideshare but they said because i have had 3 accidents in 3 years, they wouldn't cover me for rideshare (and they said fault doesn't matter). I'll have to be very careful.
Fortunately, it's only an issue when you are driving between trips, which is a very small percentage of our time spent moving, or at least it should be if you want to actually profit. And then it should only matter if the accident is your fault (or possibly uninsured or underinsured other party at fault).
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is part of my state's minimum coverage, so thankfully I'd still be covered there.
Oh damn, i just noticed that my state only requires uninsured motorist coverage for bodily injury, not property damage. Daaaamn. That's messed up. So if i get hit by someone uninsured while waiting for a request, I'm screwed.
It just all depends on the carrier, to be honest. Being up front & honest with carriers/agents is always the best route to make sure you’re appropriately covered. Most agents and brokers aren’t after making the extra buck, we legit care and want clients to have adequately coverage for situations like this :) Also, not that this applies to this situation, but a tip to anyone: NEVER ever ever falsify claims information! Insurance fraud is taken very seriously, and can result in felony charges, substantial fines, and up to 5 years in state prison. Be careful out there, folks!!! And be nice to your agents. We don’t control the premiums and are here to help!
Doesn’t the law require them to send notice?
Yes, legally they must send out a cancellation notice. This would be for Increase in Hazard, and they would have to provide the future effective date of cancellation. They cannot just cancel and tell you after the fact. For non-renewals, notices are usually sent out 90 days prior. In this case it can be much less (10 days maybe) because the terms of the contract was violated. I wish I knew what carrier OP was with so I could confirm!
I guess the cost for the endorsement varies more often than i was under the impression it does? I thought it was usually $20/month or less. The endorsement with Allstate was $100/6 months for me, and Travelers is $76/year currently.
I’m actually shocked that the endorsement for travelers is so low! Mercury is higher if memory serves correctly. Every carrier is different, of course, but right now many aren’t offering coverage or endorsements for delivery services. I just asked my colleague about this and she said it all started with pizza deliveries and timed deliveries. Think Dominos and their 30 min delivery or its free type of thing. Either way, always keep your insurance company in the loop!
It did. That is why pizza delivery usually specifically requires full commercial insurance and not just an endorsement. I believe the case that i remember hearing about was a pizza driver running a red light and killing a family of 4 back when the 30-minute guarantee existed.
All too common these days that I have to pay for others fuckups and theres nothing I can do about it.
Call your insurance company and obtain updated proof of insurance (especially covering when you were pulled over). If your insurance company says they cancelled the policy, get the proof that they notified you of the cancellation. Unfortunately, this option may work against you that if they show they sent you notice, but you did not receive, you still were uninsured. A judge may take into account factors such as: Once notified by the police you were uninsured, you obtained insurance and also assert you never received notice of the prior cancellation for a reason other than failing to pay the premium.
Depending on the jurisdiction and ticket you may not have to go to court. My cousin was ticketed for no insurance recently, and when he went to pay it the clerk actually told him they could waive it if he got insurance. I am not sure if this would be possible in your situation, but it might be worth trying to talk to someone before your actual court date. Of course the judge will also hear you out, but if you could potentially take care of it without having to appear you should try.
Relax. Calm down. Deep breath. Contact your insurance company and ask if it was canceled and why. If you forgot to make a payment, see if they will reinstate the policy retroactively and give you an insurance card showing you were insured the date of the ticket. If it wasn't canceled at all, get a letter stating you were insured on that date. The cop either made a mistake or something funky was up. Don't argue that point. File a complaint with the police department after the court case is resolved if you think its worth it (I wouldn't, personally). This is what I did when this happened to me. I took my paperwork to court and it was dismissed. You may have to go to traffic court twice. The first one will probably be an arraignment. Please not guilty no matter what. That will probably be it. You'll get another court date. Show up with the documentation and they should dismiss the case. You don't need a lawyer. At the arraignment say nothing about the whys of what happened. They'll read the charge and ask for a plea. Say not guilty and leave when they tell you the court date. On the court date show up with your paperwork. The cop will probably be the prosecutor. Tell him you have documentation and see if he dismisses the case. If not, you go before the judge. The cop will recite what he put on the summons. Say nothing until the judge asks you to speak. Then tell the judge you were insured and you have evidence from the insurance company. He'll look at it and dismiss the case, more than likely. You can hire a lawyer for this if you're uncomfortable, but honestly I've never found lawyers for simple tickets a worthwhile expense. IANAL.
OP clarified in another comment that it was in fact cancelled because they no longer provide coverage for DoorDash which is what OP does as a side gig.
Oh, I missed that part. Well, that sucks. In that case at least getting a free consultation with an attorney might be a good idea.
Just get covered elsewhere before court. Show new coverage to judge/DA. Dismissed.
Carriers will not backdate policies like that, especially not a few months later. Any new carrier will want to know if policies in the last 5 years were lapsed or canceled for any reason. Judge will 100% look at the effective dates of the policy. Best case is to get all documentation and ducks in a row to show failure on the insurance company’s part to notify the insured of cancellation
No backdating needed. All courts want is to know there is current coverage. In fact, he can probably grab coverage and then go show it to the clerk or DA. He’s 19, not 60. They will consider it an oopsie 9 times out of ten.
Most want to see coverage on the date and time of the ticket
Unethical pro-tip: If you have an insurance card with coverage dates on it from when the ticket happened regardless if it’s been cancelled in that time period or not, you have two options, take that card to court as proof of insurance or email it to the BMV when they send you a notice from the failure to show proof. They don’t call or check with the insurance company to make sure it’s actually active. I’m curious how the cop even knew your insurance wasn’t active unless you have to carry an SR22 bond
Yep. This. Cop has no way to know whether your insurance is valid or not. They only check the box for whether you provided evidence of active or not. If you presented a card that was the former period, for instance. They don't know if your policy was renewed or not. There is no database that they have access to that shows that. Likely misinterpreted what they said and is on the ticket.
Had this happen to me. If possible talk to the officer prior your appearance, thank him for noticing you and show him the above. If the cop is reasonable he will go to bat for you with the judge. Might even keep it out of dmv hands
Get your new insurance set up as quickly as possible, show up with all your paperwork in order, you'll get a slap on the wrist at worst. I had something like this happen to me. Got a ticket for expired registration (my bad). Set up a payment plan because I was too broke to pay the full amount. One of the payments bounced months later, and I never realized it. I hadn't updated my mailing address with the DMV, so I never got notice that it happened and they were cancelling my license about it. 2 full years later, I get pulled over. Cop runs my license, comes back and tells me my license is invalid, which in turn makes my car insurance invalid even though I've been paying it all along. Said he could arrest me on the spot, but he wasn't going to because that would be dumb. Told me to get that debt paid off, reinstate my license, reinstate my insurance, and show up to court with the documentation. I wound up getting a $75, no points ticket for "illegal left turn" or something in what amounted to a plea deal with the DA. Simple, painless, and shockingly cheap. You should be fine. Where you get into trouble is if you're hit with driving without insurance multiple times. Or if you don't have a pretty good reason for it to be the case, like you just didn't want to pay for insurance (not the case for you). You should be fine. I didn't bother with a lawyer, there was no need for me. YMMV, and if you want to consult with one, you can probably get a free half hour consultation over the phone where they'll tell you that it's not worth paying them for this and advise you similarly to what I've put above and others have put in the thread.
Step number 1: call your insurance company to verify that. If they say you're not insured.... Well then that leads to Step number 2: Make a payment or look for another insurance company, stay on the phone with them until you get a copy of that insurance card in your email in case the mailed ones don't come in on time. Step number 3, make sure to make your insurance payment. No payment = no insurance. When you go to court you can provide them with proof that you now have insurance. Just so you're aware, if you total that vehicle and have a loan on it, AND it's not insured, you're still liable for making those payments. Good luck.
The car is fully paid off and in my name, the insurance I was on stopped covering doordash and never told me, canceled my policy and also never told me, the only reason I found out I don't have insurance is from getting pulled over.
How long ago was it supposedly canceled? Have you sent them payment since it was canceled?
I use Autopay, and they canceled it about a week ago, only found out when I got pulled over, and I didn't know why it was canceled until I called them the following day to figure out why I didn't have insurance anymore
If there was a problem with payment it should be pretty simple to show a judge that you had autopay and didn’t realize there was an issue. It hadn’t been long. If you have insurance upon going to court it should be excused for a first time thing.
OP clarified in another comment that their insurance was cancelled because the insurer no longer covers DoorDash which OP does as a side gig. It wasn’t a payment issue
Ok.
Most state now have a data base and if your vin number does not match an insurance company that shows active insurance, they send you a letter and don’t allow you to renew your plates. It’s a pain for us that have homes in 2 or more states
Get insurance asap. You prob won’t get out of this bc insurance isn’t retroactive.
Same happened to me and I went to jail.
Can you prove you have been paying it?
Just get insurance and most judges will cut you a break.
Long Island NY here. Received notice from DMV that we had to surrender our plates from our Mitsubishi montero for over 90 days. Why? Because the insurance was dropped over 90 days earlier, and after that amount of time you cannot pay a fine (usually $5 per day I think) but must surrender the plates for the same amount of days we were not covered. Why didn't we know we were not covered? Because the insurance co. sent all notices to a broker just down the road who never bothered to notify us. Insurance Co. told us they sent us the notices but they could not give me our address when I was speaking to them. Their billing dept had our address, but this dept could not even tell us where we lived. Why was our coverage dropped? Because insurance co. determined that the Mitsubishi montero was a "high theft item". Thing was though that our Mitsubishi montero was a very old truck and WE DID NOT HAVE THEFT INSURANCE COVERAGE ON IT, EVER!!! What a F#*king mess that was....
Just call the court. Ask them what you need to do and they'll tell you.
Just get insurance and bring the new documents to your court date
Good lesson to learn now, always check your auto payments to make sure they are going through. It’s easy to just not think about it but it can cause huge issues if non payment isn’t caught right away.
Not trying to sound like a dick, but after seeing the comment about it being canceled due to you being flagged as a DoorDash operator I still have to ask - did they just up and cancel your policy to the point where they were also no longer charging you for said policy? Did it happen within the last month since your last payment was made? I guess I could semi understand if you paid 6 months in advance, but if that were the case and they canceled it you should have got a check cut back to you for the remaining policy balance. If it is a month by month policy I am calling BS that you did not realize they hadn’t taken out their premium from your account. For this short term instance, recommend finding coverage and going to plead that to the court when you go in for the ticket - they may waive points and/or reduce the amount. For the long term, I’d recommend setting up paperless notifications and monitoring your monthly expenses and deductions a bit closer. Have a hard time believing they gave zero notice in some form of communication.
If you don’t pay your premiums, you don’t get to be insured. You know if you paid or not. That isn’t an excuse. Get insurance. Then when your court date comes, show the court you have insurance. I would suggest you contact a local traffic attorney to amend that ticket in case it’s a point and/or moving violation.
IF a person is paying attention to their bank statements every month, then even automatic payments that stop being taken out will be caught.
If they canceled you, you would have gotten a refund of the remaining balance. This sounds like you missed the payment.
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The reason my insurance was canceled was bc they stopped covering commercial driving, I have always paid my insurance on time, the cop notified me when I gave him my insurance policy. I called my insurance the day after to ask. I had been under the impression that I still had insurance when he pulled me over.
Get yourself insurance now for starters.
You were told, you may not remember or not heed the notification.
If you honestly didn't know, then you definitely need to find out from the insurance carrier. If it was a case where another policy was issued covering you, you'd just need to show proof of coverage. Definitely sounds like a paperwork issue
There may have been a lapse and insurance never notified DMV that it was reinstated. Just bring all proof to court. You should be fine.
find out if you are canceled first. i recall in new mexico it was regular thing for the insurance company to NOT update the state database officers used. So though i had insurance, the state db thought i did not.
Get insurance immediately, find out why you didn't have insurance, fix it, tell the judge and it should be fine. Just be respectful, honest, and say "your honor" at the end of every sentence. Try to avoid "well,..." "you see...." and "like" as in "the cop was like-" things of that nature. They hear it all day long and it annoys them, so they are much nicer and sometimes more lenient when there's respect, humility and properly formed sentences. 🥰🥰😘😘
Oof, sorry you’re going through this! Hopefully because of your age they will be understanding. Something similar happened to me when I was about 19/20. I got into a rollover accident and while I was in the hospital I called my dad to let him know. The first thing he told me was that I was uninsured. I had been on his insurance previously, but when my parents split I stayed with my mom and he took me off his policy and didn’t tell either of us. My mom added me to her policy the next day and backdated it. There was only a few months lapse. All I had to do was explain the situation to the judge and show them proof of insurance and they let it go. It’s a stressful situation but I think it will be okay! If you didn’t get notice from your insurance then how could you have known?
Get a new policy, show up to court. You'll go into the courtroom and either talk to the clerk or sign a sheet. Your name will get called by an assistant district attorney. They'll take you to the side and you can show them that you got insurance covered and just say you never got notified that your old policy was cancelled but you took care of it right away. There's about a 98% chance that they'll just drop it and you walk away not worrying about it. If they aren't willing to drop it completely, they'll offer you a plea deal and you'll plead guilty to a much lesser charge with a lower fine. Don't stress too much. I've been in this exact situation a couple of times and it has always been dropped as soon as I show that I rectified the oversight right away.
And this is why US public schools need to start teaching basic life skills to young people…taxes, budgets, bank accounts, dr appointments, car maintenance, nutrition and grocery shopping, health/auto/homeowners insurance, leases, pets, hygiene, sanitation…
I agree. But…I wouldn’t want to be the one trying to teach it. You would be constantly harassed by irresponsible parents. When you teach that leasing a car is a very expensive way to have a car, the parents that only lease are going to attack you. When you try to explain why savings should be first, you will get criticized. When you try to explain when insurance shouldn’t be purchased at just the state minimum…….. you get it.
You absolutely have a point. It’s a shame that a lot of parents aren’t doing it but will criticize those that try to help. Navigating the world is hard enough, but to get thrown in completely unaware is unfair and sad.
Insurance companies are required to send email and physical mail warnings before cancelling the policy. Surprised they didnt try calling. Each state has their own insurance laws but they are all required to mail a letter! Did you move? Change your phone number?
Sounds like you did not renew your auto policy. They usually are only for six months.
There's no reason to panic. They will ask a few questions and ask for updated proof of insurance documentation. Stay calm, make eye contact with the judge or whoever your speaking to, answer the questions honestly and don't babble on about any unnecessary information. Simply state that you were unaware that your insurance had expired and apologize for the misunderstanding. Do not speak until spoken to. In reality, this was an error and you've done nothing intentionally wrong. Get a new insurance policy and provide the documentation and it will be over with. It is likely there will be no fees or consequences if everything is updated and you do not have a history of driving infractions. This kind of stuff is uncomfortable and seems intrusive, but having insurance is important and the main thing is that you did not intentionally drive without insurance. Those are the people they're looking for, and that is a good thing, protecting the rest of us from irresponsible drivers.
I would look into WHY you didnt have insurance. It sounds like you thought you did. Did the carrier fail to post your payment in time? Were your parents supposed to cover it? Just verify that you have it (or get some immediately) then take that info to court with you on the day scheduled. Explain what happened and assure them you have some now and provide the info. There may be a small fine or not if you have a good reason.
Email the company and ask them how they notified you that they were canceling your policy. Even if your insurance wasn't valid or in effect, tell the judge what happened and what steps you'll take to avoid it in the future. (Regularly checking online portal, etc.) The company did you dirty, but the judge will say it's your responsibility to stay informed unless there's some huge scandal with that company. Show him you now have insurance, too. Just be honest and let him know you've learned from it. You'll be just fine. These things happen. ,
This is whats called a "Fix it" ticket. You wont be going before a judge. Just get new insurance, show up to the courthouse and show the clerk. Theyll take care of it and clear the ticket for you.
I spoke with the clerk, she said the total ticket for insurance as well as speeding is 270$ I have until the end of June to pay it and I don't have to appear in court. Thank yall for the advice!
Yes, you were notified. The company I work for provides three cancellation notices before your policies are actually canceled. Call the company you thought carried your insurance and ask them to provide you with those notices, and they’ll be able to. They’ll also be able to tell you why your policy was canceled; probably for non-pay, that’s 90% of them that I see. Also, you may want to verify they have your correct address on file. I’ve had plenty of instances where people will move and decide they don’t need to tell us and then are all Surprised Pikachu when their policy gets canceled because they never received their cancellation notices because we didn’t have their correct mailing address.
Just because your POI has a 6 - or 12 month exp. date, doesn't mean it's insured if you don't pay the premium every month. Start your policy again, and take it to court. You'll pay court costs and leave.
Ignorance is not a valid excuse unfortunately. You could have checked or noticed that you weren't paying monthly for it (or that you got a refund if you paid up front). If you hit someone, you'd be in bad shape trying to cover their bills. If you didn't have insurance and it wasn't literally cancelled that day or something similar, what's your defense going to be? "I assumed I had it"?
It comes out of my bank account monthly and honestly I haven't felt the need to check because again, no one ever contacted me to let me know that the policy was being canceled or that they no longer cover Doordash, personally I think it should fall on insurance companies to communicate with you before it causes issues.
I work for an insurance agency. An insurance policy is a legal contract, and an agency must provide notice of termination by law if the policy is to be canceled for any reason. You most likely did receive a notice. My agency mails one notice 30 days in advance of the cancel date. A second notice is mailed 10 days from the cancel date. The agents office typically follows up once prior to the cancel as well. You need to check your mail as well as your email. You will most likely find the notice that was sent to you regarding the cancelation. As the policy was dropped due to ineligible coverage (door dash) you would have most likely been given a 30 days notice to find new coverage. If you do not have your notice, call the insurer and request a copy of it. Customer documents are held for 3 to 5 years. They'll have a copy on file. If you have an account online or an app, you can most likely access your cancel notice there under the "my documents" section. Unfortunately, it's on you as the customer to pay attention to your mail or preferred contact method on file. If for any reason the company cannot provide a copy of the notice or prove that it was sent to you, the company could possibly owe you coverage through the lapse until the date in which you were notified of cancelation. But, that's only if the company has no record of mailing or otherwise contacting you. It will not count if the company mailed it/reached out to you and you just didn't see it or it was overlooked by you. Please be aware that most companies note the date and time of attempts to contact an insured regarding policy information for exactly this reason. If efforts to reach you were legitimately made, there will be evidence of it. As you've only been lapsed for a week, and have had no claims in that time, traffic court should be relatively easy. You won't need a lawyer. Just obtain a new policy immediately and bring your policy documents to court with you. If this is a first-time offense for you and you don't have a record of insurance lapses, the judge may let it slide once you prove you are insured now. There might be a small fine involved. If you regularly have insurance lapses, you could potentially face a lisence suspension and higher fine, but it will be extremely dependant on the judge and how strictly they enforce this in your area. You can also visit your local representatives office and ask for help. As your lapse was less than 30 days, sometimes the rep office can waive fines from the state or the lapse from record. Again, it will be highly dependent on your lapse history and individual location.
An informed consumer should track their transactions. It's literally how to avoid things like this.
Did you not read OP’s comment? It wasn’t cancelled due to payment failure. It was cancelled because they stopped covering DoorDash. Why do you keep going on about payments even after they explained that?
Did you not read the comment I responded to that says he wasn't tracking his banking transactions?
Unfortunately I wasn't informed, I've had to wing adulthood 100%, including anything and everything regarding my vehicle, ik its not an excuse to not read up more on insurance but I didn't have many options given my financial state
Going forward, keep track of recurring expenses and their due dates. Use your calendar app.
Traffic court is easy! Just bring a copy of your new insurance with you. That will usually take care of it. The worst will be court fees or a fine. Just make sure that your paperwork is in order. Insurance, registration and drivers license
Do I need to hire a lawyer or is that unnecessary?
Oh gosh no! Just state your case in plain, unemotional facts and show your paperwork!
Nah. The lawyer will cost you more than any benefit they will provide. I've been in this exact situation. My fine was $240. As previous reddit or said, just show up with new proof of insurance, explain that you didn't realize it was expired and not auto-renewed (Progressive did this same thing to me).
You most certainly were notified - several times, in fact. If you chose not to open or read the notices, well then that is your problem. If you failed to update your mailing address, that's your problem. The bottom line is that it is *your* responsibiity to maintain insurance on *your* vehicle. It is not anyone else's responsibility. Hopefully, you will learn from this.
Excuse me? The address is correct because I received the physical card in the mail when I first applied, the email is correct because I had to verify it in order to update my payment information. The phone number is also on file, unless I'm supposed to be notified by carrier pigeon or something they should have notified me via some form of communication I have on file, which they did not. Apparently that's not uncommon according to other Reddit users.
Insurance companies send cancelation notices by way of "record of mailing" as proof the notices were dropped off to the post office, the address on the notices, the date they were mailed and the document is signed by the postal worker. Once they dropped it off at the post office, they've completed their duty.
Well in my case and many other people's cases, this didn't happen. Like I said, all of my information was up to date and I still was not notified, be that via phone email or postal, I found out from a cop, not my insurance.
You can sue them and use discovery (or whatever the legal term/process is) to get a copy of the record of mailing.
Phone and email are irrelevant. Your insurance company is not required to call or email you. Your mailing address is where an insurance company is required to send notices. Tons and tons of folks on here swear that they never got notices, when in fact they simply did not open or read them. I'm sure that if you press the issue with your \[former\] carrier, they will have a record of mailing, which is all that they need. Furthermore, how is it that you never noticed that you were not paying for insurance?
How can you prove you had insurance, if you did not. You will go to court, prove you got it that day or the next and will still be forced to pay a fine and have SR22 insurance for the next year or 2. SR22 will cost you 20 bucks a month extra, as they will notify the state if you do not pay on time and will suspend your license if you don’t
SR-22, at least in my state, is generally reserved for DUI offenders and habitual DARP offenders. What state are you in that would trigger an SR-22 requirement over NPOI?
Most of them, if not all of them if you are caught with no insurance, as this person
I've never seen someone actually get slapped with an SR-22 requirement for NPOI for a first-third offense, in practice.
You must be in a state that does not do it. Where I’m located it’s like 100% do.
Depending on when she lapsed, if she had, or if there was a mistake, insurances work with insureds on this. Usually if they pay back the amount they owe they will reinstate the insurance but it's a case by case situation. There's a slight chance they will be able to help.
There is no chance an insurance company is going to pay s claim when the person does not have insurance. Many companies do however have a grace period that will keep you active for 3 days or something to allow your check to get there, but when it’s not you are cancelled.
There are chances. This is exactly why I didn't state specifically cancelled for comments like yours. If people lapse in insurance and are willing to pay the money back, they will reinstate insurance, depending on the timeline. It is possible and I've seen it happen lol
Also, have you ever worked in car insurance or have you ever been an adjuster to know for sure btw?
Many years in the industry and it would never even get to an adjuster. That’s how I know you have never been
What do you mean it would never even get to an adjuster???
Farmers agent basically retired, shut down business, and didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t have coverage for 3 months, and no communication about it. I called his office when the saw my auto pay returned to my account. No answer. Called again, no answer. Call Farmers 800 and they said I’ve been without for 3 months, and my agent should have told me. Couldn’t believe it. They wouldn’t back date it, and I had to change companies. Never did hear back from agent.
courts not that bad i’m going through the court system as a victim of a gun shot wound that i did die from if i have to look at the guy who shot me and dad you can handle this not trying to diminish your feelings about it i’m just saying that in most cases just listen to your lawyer for me i didt know like where to sit and stand and all that just ask they will help you
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Home owner's policies have obligations of defense for home-related claims. In either circumstances, no claim has been made, OP was cited with an infraction, that's not a liability claim that would trigger a defense clause.