No NY Insurance? No NY License Plates. It's that simple.

We’ve had a couple of our customers in the last week get caught up because of this rule. Both recently moved out of state and we did our best to explain to them that you cannot have New York  State license plates unless you have at least the minimum New York State liability insurance coverage for the registration attached to those plates.

I was asked by one customer how the average New Yorker would know this information if they are not told by their insurance representative (something we do regularly, and did do in both of these situations). Unfortunately, it’s hard to answer that question without seeming unfeeling or rude. But the answer is simply that, having registered the vehicle in the state,  you are required to be aware of the rules, someone else telling you not withstanding. I am subject to them myself.

I would say we explain this to someone at least 10 times in any given week. The response is always the same. It’s black and white. No insurance, no plates. Keep the plates and cancel the insurance and you get fined and a suspension letter from DMV for your license and that registration.

In the two instances I refer to, both customers moved out of state. We told them AND emailed them what needed to be done. We can’t come to their homes and take the plates from them forcibly. They chose, instead to keep the NY plates, but wrote insurance coverage in their new states of residence. The first asked us to cancel her policy which we did, at her earnest request, only now to find out she held onto her plates and now she has the nasty DMV Suspension letter. The fact that she HAS now turned in her plates should render the situation moot and clear it up, but it’s no fun to receive that letter. The second wrote coverage in the new state, but the current NYS coverage is still in force. So having not turned in their plates, they is still paying for two policies. Nobody wants to do that either. Now those plates need to be mailed back to New York and, once that is done, the coverage can be canceled.

Here’s a link to the New York State DMV page explaining what you need to do about your license plates.

We at our agency are going to look for a way to make sure our insureds are even more informed on this subject in the future. Even though we feel we do a good job of explaining the issue, we still end up being the ones blamed in the end. I think it’s the result of an unpleasant societal shift of blame by a majority of the populace. Perhaps we will add a new notice to be given to all of our customers, regardless of the status of their auto coverage. We will come up with something, I’m sure of that. In the meantime, remember: No insurance, No plates. Plates & No Insurance? Nasty notice or overpaying.