When you have a car in New York State, you need to have insurance that covers any damage or injury you may cause to others. This is called liability insurance. If you don’t have this insurance for some time, this is called an insurance lapse¹.
- The DMV is the department that manages your car registration and driver license. If you have an insurance lapse for a car that is registered to you, the DMV can stop your registration and driver license from being valid¹.
- If your insurance lapse is not more than 90 days, you can pay some money to the DMV to avoid giving up your plates and having your registration suspended. This money is called a civil penalty³.
- The amount of money you have to pay depends on how many days you did not have insurance. It can be from $8 to $12 for each day of lapse³.
- If you don’t pay the money, you have to give back your car registration and plates to the DMV until the time of suspension is over³.
- If your car does not have insurance and you or someone else who drives your car gets into an accident, the DMV will take away your driver license and car registration for at least one year¹.
- You will also have to pay another $750 to get back your driver license if it is taken away, and a fine from the traffic court that could be up to $1,500¹.
- You can use the internet to check the status of your insurance, driver license and car registration related to an insurance lapse, using the letter or order from the DMV?.
- You can also use the internet, mail or a DMV office to pay an insurance lapse civil penalty, using the Suspension Order that says you can pay a civil penalty³?.
Source:
(1) New York DMV | Insurance lapses. https://dmv.ny.gov/insurance/insurance-lapses.
(2) New York DMV | How to pay an insurance lapse civil penalty. https://dmv.ny.gov/insurance/how-pay-insurance-lapse-civil-penalty.
(3) undefined. https://dmv.ny.gov/insurance/how-check-insurance-status-online.
(4) undefined. https://transact3.dmv.ny.gov/inscivilpenalty/index.cfm.
(5) . https://bing.com/search?q=dmv+ny+insurance+lapse.
(6) Dmv Ny Insurance Lapse: Avoid Penalties and Protect Your License. https://laywade.com/dmv-ny-insurance-lapse/.
