Ct dmv (lease, homeowners insurance, transfer)

Tetto · 05-29-2009, 06:13 PM

My mother in law discontinued her insurance on her car, with the intention of giving the car to her son. The DMV sent her a letter 2 weeks later demanding $200. The plates were brought down to DMV, but they wouldn't budge about the $200, they said "we dont know if it was being driven or not", so gimme $200 instead. What a *&^%ing racket this state has.

I know she should have brought the plates in, but shes 80 and needed to save money and did the easiest thing she could.

Anybody run into this lately?

usmcfamily · 05-29-2009, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tetto

My mother in law discontinued her insurance on her car, with the intention of giving the car to her son. The DMV sent her a letter 2 weeks later demanding $200. The plates were brought down to DMV, but they wouldn't budge about the $200, they said "we dont know if it was being driven or not", so gimme $200 instead. What a *&^%ing racket this state has.

I know she should have brought the plates in, but shes 80 and needed to save money and did the easiest thing she could.

Anybody run into this lately?

What exactly is she being charged $200 for?

heather121 · 05-29-2009, 08:03 PM

My boyfriend's vehicle was non-working for 6 months, and he called his insurance company to attempt to "suspend" his insurance since it wasn't being driven, and they said that there was no way to "suspend" it, it'd have to be canceled, and if it were canceled, the DMV would know within 48 hours and suspend the vehicle's registration and thus send him a fine.

The only way to avoid a fine like that is to turn in the plates first, and then discontinue the insurance. The state is apparently really strict about that..The $200 is probably a fine, and I'm not surprised that they won't negotiate, unfortunately...

JViello · 05-30-2009, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tetto

My mother in law discontinued her insurance on her car, with the intention of giving the car to her son. The DMV sent her a letter 2 weeks later demanding $200. The plates were brought down to DMV, but they wouldn't budge about the $200, they said "we dont know if it was being driven or not", so gimme $200 instead. What a *&^%ing racket this state has.

I know she should have brought the plates in, but shes 80 and needed to save money and did the easiest thing she could.

Anybody run into this lately?

I have in the past. I think if I remember right, we told them that the car was traded in and provided proof so they dropped it. (How can you drive a car that was left at a dealership was my arguement) In your case, I'm not sure if they will budge.

Yes, it's stupid and rediculous. Somehow making you pay $200.00 allows them travel back in time and fix any damage that may have been done while you were "uninsured".

It's stupid.

If they were really concerned with public safety being the issue, they would simply suspend the registration once "non insurance" was reported. The fine does nothing but help support the state worker's pension fund.

Back in the day, I did suspend coverage on my vehicles that don't see daylight in the Winter with no issues. (Hotrods)

Quote:

Originally Posted by outinthewater

What exactly is she being charged $200 for?

Registered plates with no insurance to go along with them. They don't care if the car is in a junkyard...the plates need to be insured.

Gotta love government.

7 Wishes · 05-30-2009, 06:26 AM

Almost every state does this. In NY they would've actually suspended her registration in addition to charging her a fine like this.

usmcfamily · 05-30-2009, 06:39 AM

Why would insurance have been totally cancelled? Even if parked in a garage, you'd still want minimal protection against theft or damage. Also, if giving the car to her son, it would have been cheaper to transfer the plates to him. It's too bad the son didn't help his elderly mom with this and avoided this fee.

JViello · 05-30-2009, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outinthewater

Why would insurance have been totally cancelled? Even if parked in a garage, you'd still want minimal protection against theft or damage. Also, if giving the car to her son, it would have been cheaper to transfer the plates to him. It's too bad the son didn't help his elderly mom with this and avoided this fee.

I'm pretty sure the homeowners insurance would kick in at that point. My carrier said it was okay for my "stored" vehicles.

7 Wishes · 05-30-2009, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JViello

I'm pretty sure the homeowners insurance would kick in at that point. My carrier said it was okay for my "stored" vehicles.

Yes, my boss at a job I was at 15-20 years ago had a rare car he garaged in the winter and he did exactly what you did.

Tetto · 05-30-2009, 08:06 AM

Please dont bring up how her son should have helped... He's in Florida and pretty much no help at all. I should have known this would have happened and just brought the plates in myself. It's one of those unfortunate things that happened, but really shouldn't have in the first place.

andthentherewere3 · 05-30-2009, 10:15 AM

About 15 years ago we dropped the insurance on an old car of my dh's because it was junked; we were unaware of the laws. My dh had to go to a DMV "court" to try and explain the situation. Sure enough, he got slapped with an expensive fine and lost his license for one month. Then a few years ago we turned in a leased vehicle, and the dealership lost the plates. (in fact they lost the car as well, that nightmare took weeks to sort out) The DMV immediately sent us threatening letters, and I had to get a letter from GMC themselves explaining the situation, as the dealership wouldn't help. I then had to send the letter to the DMV. They don't mess around.