Moved out of state and was fined for lapse in insurance... (Chapel Hill: car insurance, chapel)

[seggerinie]

I moved from Carrboro to Atlanta almost a month ago and I acquired my driver's license, tag, and GA auto insurance within 2 days of moving.

I researched all the ins and outs of moving my vehicle to GA and returning my NC license plate, including the fact that NC DMV is very strict about liability insurance coverage. My Liberty Mutual agent in Chapel Hill had warned me to make sure I had enough of an overlap on policies to avoid the penalty, so I knew about this.

When I spoke with the policy transfer representative from Liberty Mutual (not my agent) she assured me that a 1 day overlap would be fine and I wouldn't have any problems. I asked her at least twice if she was sure that it wouldn't be a problem with NC DMV and she assured me that it would not but I just needed to let the NC DMV know I had moved and get my plate in the mail ASAP (which I did).

In hindsight I should have told her to keep my NC policy on the books for another week or so, but she's supposed to be the expert, right?

So anyway, I have a $50 fine for a lapse in NC liability insurance coverage OF COURSE, because my policy ended on 5/12 and they did not get my plate until 5/19.

And finally, the question:
Has anyone successfully gotten their insurance company to reimburse them for this fine?

Or do you think it would be worth my time to inquire? I know you never know until you ask, but I don't want to spend 2 hours on the phone trying to convince them that they misinformed me.

I know $50 isn't a huge amount of money, but I had to pay almost $800 for the one-time vehicle tax that GA is doing now and $50 would be pretty nice.

Thanks!!!

[attrapereves]

Can you show the NC DMV proof that the vehicle was titled and registered in another state at the time you dropped insurance in NC? Additionally, was the plate package postmarked the same day your NC insurance expired? If the NC plates were no longer on your vehicle, and if you had plates and insurance in another state, I don't see why they would send the fine.

I wonder if they would waive the fine with this information. It's worth a call to the DMV main office.

As soon as I moved out of state, I switched my insurance over to a policy here (I still had NC plates) which basically cancelled my NC policy and started a new policy. I did this because they want to see proof of in state insurance before issuing a plate and title. Once I got my new plates here, I mailed back the NC plate. I didn't do it right away (maybe 2-3 days later) and never got any fine in the mail.

Also, my parents did some merging with their car insurance, combining two policies into one. They got a letter from the DMV saying that they were notified that insurance was cancelled and that they have 30 days to provide proof of insurance before a fine is issued. I'm surprised you weren't given 30 days.

[seggerinie]

Well, I haven't moved to my permanent address yet, so I don't know for certain if I have been fined as I haven't been able to see any of my forwarded mail yet (except for my driver's license).

However, I sent a message on the DMV's website to a CSR and this is how they replied:

"According to our records for vehicle with plate ACW-**** we do show a cancellation of insurance for date 05/12/14. We do show the plate was turned in as of 05/19/14. There is a 50.00 penalty because the plate should have been turned in before you cancelled the plate. Thanks."

The plate was postmarked two days after my NC insurance expired. That's why I kept asking the agent if I needed to extend the overlap by more than one day - I knew it would take a few days to a week.

I moved on Mother's Day (5/11) and my GA insurance policy started that day. My NC policy was cancelled on 5/12 and because the DMV offices here do not open on Mondays, I was not able to get my DL, tag, or title until Tuesday 5/13 and the NC plate was postmarked on Wednesday 5/14.

I was under the impression that they don't care when you titled and registered the car in another state if you still have your plate.

[attrapereves]

I would check to see if they will accept the Georgia insurance card dated 5/11. Tell them that Georgia wanted to see a valid Georgia insurance card before they would issue a plate, so you were forced to switch your policy over.

It's kind of a dumb policy because most states want to see an insurance card valid in that state before they will issue a plate and title. They will not accept an out of state insurance card.