question about lapse in car insurance - North Carolina (NC

149 posts, read 147,206 times Reputation: 81

I had my car insured with Progressive for 2-3 years. I left them since I found cheaper rates elsewhere. I also didn't like Progressive checking my credit every month. I looked at my credit report and saw monthly inquiries from Progressive. Once a rep informed me that my next payment wasn't due until the following month. Then I received a notice from Progressive informing me I was going to lapse in a few days at midnight. When I called them to explain what I was told by a specific rep (first and last name) that I was paid in full until the following month, they actually had to go into their call archives to hear our phone call. Thank goodness for quality assured call monitoring. They had to remove the impending lapse, give me an apology stating the rep who I spoke to was in training, blah, blah, blah..... BTW, The Peggy Bundy lookalike Progressive uses on their commercials annoys the heck out of me. lol

24 posts, read 25,130 times Reputation: 20

Hello, All. I work in insurance and worked a LOT with NC. In NC (and most other states) when your insurance is cancelled the DMV is immediately notified. There is no grace period for cancellation notices from your insurer If your cancellation notice states coverage expires , say, 8/1 at midnight when you wake up on 8/1 you are uninsured and NC DMV notification is already in process. I was licensed in about 25 states and NC was the only state I recall having to turn your plates in but, yes, this is the protocol. Also , unfortunately, you can also expect higher rates due to the lapse. Sorry. They are one of the strictest states out there. I know this has to be very stressful for you. Last edited by vanative1; 09-20-2010 at 09:14 AM..

149 posts, read 147,206 times Reputation: 81

Quote: Hello, All. I work in insurance and worked a LOT with NC. In NC (and most other states) when your insurance is cancelled the DMV is immediately notified. There is no grace period for cancellation notices from your insurer If your cancellation notice states coverage expires , say, 8/1 at midnight when you wake up on 8/1 you are uninsured and NC DMV notification is already in process. I was licensed in about 25 states and NC was the only state I recall having to turn your plates in but, yes, this is the protocol. Also , unfortunately, you can also expect higher rates due to the lapse. Sorry. They are one of the strictest states out there. I know this has to be very stressful for you. Question: NY charges $8 per day. How much does NC charge for each uninsured day?

2 posts, read 6,360 times Reputation: 13

[quote=simplesimmon;15606071]Hello, I have searched this forum prior to posting but couldn't seem to find an answer and I was in hopes someone may be able to give me some direction. I changed auto insurance last year, due to progessive continueally raising my rates, however, had a 11 day lapse in coverage, I thought I was covered until the end of the month and changed companies thinking I had overlapped by 15 days. Guess I was Wrong. While trying to renew my registration, I was told I had to turn in my plates for 30 days due to the lapse. I am clueless on what to do whereas I have never heard of this before. I never received any notice and just thought that everything was fine. I have a perfect driving record for the past 30 years, never had any insurance issues and/or accidents (knock on wood). I am in total amazment that I could really loose my plates for 30 days. I have spoken to the NC DMV today and they said they would set up a hearing, however, I only have until the end of the month to reregister and I can only assume this hearing will take longer than that time frame. Does anyone have any insight on this or has had this happened? Turning in my plates and not being able to drive to work would result in me no doubt losing my job. Sorry for the lengthy post and thank you for listening. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. {{Answer}} I had been out of work for some time, and my husband income was reduced and bills were piling fast. We were unable to get insurance inmediately and had a 5-6 week lapse. We received a letter from DMV stating that we needed to send $50 along with a letter as to why there had been a lapse in insurance. At this point we had gotten a new insurance company, so I did send in the money, letter of explanation and proof of insurance however, it was never received! The time period they gave me to provide such documents expired and I received another letter stating I had to surrender my plates to DMV for 30days. I inmediately called and told them I had sent the proof, $50, and letter. They told me a DMV officer was going to call me and set up a phone hearing in 30-45days. I received a letter by mail with date and time I should expect the call. I was also required to fax all documentation as to why I shoudn't be found guilty of having a lapse in my insurance. This needed to be done 24 hrs. before the hearing. I completely forgot about faxing the documents 24hrs. before but managed to send them about 15 hrs before. ( I figured something is better than nothing). I wrote a script that night to be prepared for the hearing and to what I was going to say to the officer. He called on time, introduced himself, and said: "The reason for this call today is to determine if you are at fault for not having proper coverage in the state of NC". Now, can you explain why you havd no insurance coverage from /// to /// time? I began to read my notes and made it clear to him that I fully understood that driving in the state of NC is a privilage and not a right. I told him we were having taught times and tried to pay that month but bounced, and we were remorseful for what had happend. He was very nice and understanding, at the end he said, "being that this is your first offense, I will not revoke your plates for 30days, I will send you a letter by mail, take it to DMV and pay $50." We were very lucky to get out of that one! We had a lapse of 5-6 weeks, we had 3 vehicles plates that were possibly going to be taken aways from us. (Altough, only one VIN# was showing)?? We did not fax the documents 24 hrs as stated. So, don't give in so easily, when they call you , be remorseful and have them understand your situation, we are all humans and things don't always work out how we need them to. Luckily this one did. Good Luck!!!

1 posts, read 4,793 times Reputation: 10

We just got pulled over today for a lapse that happen last year in November. We had one letter from DMV asking for proof of Insurance and we sent it in. But today on the way to my Parents house we got pulled over for an Expired Registration by a Sheriff going 60mph the other way she turned around and passed 3 cars then turned her lights on to pull us over 1/2 mile from when she passed us.We then got told she could have our SUV towed and ticketed and pull my Wife's license. But instead she gave us a ticket and told us we need to go to the DMV on Tuesday and would most likely have to pay a fine of $8 (first 30) $10 (61-90) $12 (61- now) A DAY we are talking 11months of Fees for a Lapse that was taken care of back in Dec of last year. I'm afraid we will get to the DMV on Tuesday and will get the shaft. $3000 - $5000.00 maybe?? All because of a misfile or something.

1 posts, read 3,885 times Reputation: 10

Thank you so much for your response to how you handled this. The exact same thing has just happened to my family with my husband having been out of work for a while. Our insurance lapsed because a payment was returned due to insufficient funds. I just called today to request a DMV hearing and I plan to approach in the same way that you did and hope they take pity on me and dont make me turn in my tags for 30 days. They made it very clear that those were my only 2 options when I called the NC DMV today. Either turn in my tags for 30 days or request a hearing. [quote=Anne12345;19000691] Quote: Hello, I have searched this forum prior to posting but couldn't seem to find an answer and I was in hopes someone may be able to give me some direction. I changed auto insurance last year, due to progessive continueally raising my rates, however, had a 11 day lapse in coverage, I thought I was covered until the end of the month and changed companies thinking I had overlapped by 15 days. Guess I was Wrong. While trying to renew my registration, I was told I had to turn in my plates for 30 days due to the lapse. I am clueless on what to do whereas I have never heard of this before. I never received any notice and just thought that everything was fine. I have a perfect driving record for the past 30 years, never had any insurance issues and/or accidents (knock on wood). I am in total amazment that I could really loose my plates for 30 days. I have spoken to the NC DMV today and they said they would set up a hearing, however, I only have until the end of the month to reregister and I can only assume this hearing will take longer than that time frame. Does anyone have any insight on this or has had this happened? Turning in my plates and not being able to drive to work would result in me no doubt losing my job. Sorry for the lengthy post and thank you for listening. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. {{Answer}} I had been out of work for some time, and my husband income was reduced and bills were piling fast. We were unable to get insurance inmediately and had a 5-6 week lapse. We received a letter from DMV stating that we needed to send $50 along with a letter as to why there had been a lapse in insurance. At this point we had gotten a new insurance company, so I did send in the money, letter of explanation and proof of insurance however, it was never received! The time period they gave me to provide such documents expired and I received another letter stating I had to surrender my plates to DMV for 30days. I inmediately called and told them I had sent the proof, $50, and letter. They told me a DMV officer was going to call me and set up a phone hearing in 30-45days. I received a letter by mail with date and time I should expect the call. I was also required to fax all documentation as to why I shoudn't be found guilty of having a lapse in my insurance. This needed to be done 24 hrs. before the hearing. I completely forgot about faxing the documents 24hrs. before but managed to send them about 15 hrs before. ( I figured something is better than nothing). I wrote a script that night to be prepared for the hearing and to what I was going to say to the officer. He called on time, introduced himself, and said: "The reason for this call today is to determine if you are at fault for not having proper coverage in the state of NC". Now, can you explain why you havd no insurance coverage from /// to /// time? I began to read my notes and made it clear to him that I fully understood that driving in the state of NC is a privilage and not a right. I told him we were having taught times and tried to pay that month but bounced, and we were remorseful for what had happend. He was very nice and understanding, at the end he said, "being that this is your first offense, I will not revoke your plates for 30days, I will send you a letter by mail, take it to DMV and pay $50." We were very lucky to get out of that one! We had a lapse of 5-6 weeks, we had 3 vehicles plates that were possibly going to be taken aways from us. (Altough, only one VIN# was showing)?? We did not fax the documents 24 hrs as stated. So, don't give in so easily, when they call you , be remorseful and have them understand your situation, we are all humans and things don't always work out how we need them to. Luckily this one did. Good Luck!!!

1 posts, read 3,676 times Reputation: 10

In nc, I had a 4 day laspe in my insurance. i requested a hearing and have a temp tag. I want to know can I call the dmv and cancel my hearing and pay the fine and get a new tag.

1 posts, read 3,427 times Reputation: 10

Thought I would weigh in here as I just had my (on the phone) hearing with the DMV over a lapse in my insurance. I was just honest with the lady from the DMV. She asked if I had an excuse as to why I had a lapse in coverage and I said no. I told her it was 100% my fault. She seemed a little stunned as I'm guessing she hears excuses all day long. I explained to her that I had lost my job and while I thought I had enough emergency money set aside for bills, I didn't. My fault. She asked if I had received the notice from my insurance company and I said yes. She then asked if I had received the first letter from the DMV (which I ignored) and I said yes. I again took full responsibility and told her I had no one to blame but myself. Then I told her I was hoping the DMV could do something besides take my plates for 30 days as I was back on my feet and had learned my lesson. She told me I would be fined $100 dollars and not have to turn my plates in. That was it. Honesty...always the best policy. Hope this helps someone.

1 posts, read 2,457 times Reputation: 10

If my insurance lapsed in n.y. and I took my plates back can my girl put my car on her insurance and register it too?

575 posts, read 261,429 times Reputation: 434

Quote: If my insurance lapsed in n.y. and I took my plates back can my girl put my car on her insurance and register it too? In most places, the insurance policy has to be in the name of the owner of the vehicle (name on title). If you signed the title over to your girlfriend, she should be able to get insurance on it in her name.

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