Nevada Drivers License Articles
DMV Will Suspend Drivers License When Drivers Do Not Have Valid Insurance
Saturday April 4, 2009
DMV will suspend drivers’ license when drivers do not have valid insurance, and will not reinstate licenses until DMV receives payment of $250.00.
The past couple of months I have begun receiving telephone calls from clients saying that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in Nevada has sent greeting notes suspending drivers licenses when their insurance has lapsed along with an assessment a $250.00 fine. The DMV assessment is in addition to any fines a court may impose. In other words a driver receives a double whammy when he/she cannot provide proof of insurance at the date and time of the stop. He/she receives a fine from the court and one from the DMV with both possibly totaling $1,350.00 ($1,130.00 from the court for never acquiring insurance and $250.00 from the DMV). The total is enough to pay for insurance for most vehicles for 6 months. The lesson learned is DON’T LET YOUR INSURANCE LAPSE OR DO NOT CANCEL YOUR INSURANCE WITHOUT NOTIFYING THE DMV OF COVERAGE FROM YOUR NEW INSURANCE CARRIER.
Read on if you want to know what I think is happening.
First, an overriding public policy exists that was established and required by the Gang of 63 (the Nevada Assembly and the Senate) that a condition of your privilege to registering your vehicle and obtaining a drivers license to drive on public streets and byways, you must possess minimum insurance protection for other drivers.
Second, from what I can figure, the DMV finds out that a driver’s insurance has lapsed or that the insurance has been canceled in two (2) ways: (1) when the court assess a fine for not possessing valid insurance at the time and date of the stop when a driver receives a traffic ticket and reports the same to the DMV, and (2) when the driver’s insurance company notifies the DMV of cancelation of insurance. (If anyone knows how the DMV finds out in other ways please email me using the form on the right and let me know. I will update this article.
Why each can assess fines independent of the other.
You should know, that while the courts and the DMV talk to each other they are separate entities. In fact they belong to separate branches of the government. The court of course is under the judicial branch while the DMV is under the executive branch. On the one hand traffic tickets, while generally minor misdemeanors, are criminal in nature and thus the courts address issues of whether to apply some sort of punishment (a fine, jail time, community service, and etc). On the other hand, possessing a driver’s license is a privilege (not a right under the Constitution) given to you by the government. Thus the DMV establishes certain minimum requirements before issuing a drivers license. It can also determine when it will suspend or revoke a drivers license. By the way, if you want to know how attorneys think of what it takes for a driver to be punished, the burden of proof at trial before a court can assess some type of punishment is “beyond a reasonable doubt.” In lay terms the court must be about 75% sure the driver committed a traffic infraction. For the DMV the burden of proof is by “preponderance of the evidence,” or 50% plus a feather.
Also, since the courts and the DMV are independent of each other the defense of double jeopardy does not apply. So the bad news is, they both can assess fines.
Defenses
If you cancel your insurance with one carrier, be sure to have continuous coverage with another carrier. You will need to take evidence of your new and continuous coverage to the DMV immediately. Be ready to stand in line for a couple of hours. Be sure to get a document that you showed the DMV proof of your new coverage. I can just imagine that your proof will be lost in the bureaucracy and you will receive a notice of your license suspension as described below.
You should know that your old carrier will tell the DMV on you, but your new carrier will not tell the DMV of your new and continued coverage. While your previous insurance carrier's conduct may be legitimate, I think it is a cover for punishing you for firing them. Otherwise, when you cancel with your old insurance company, they should tell you that they are going to tattle-tail to the DMV. Most if not all do not tell you the evil it will bring upon you. Now you are warned. Do not cancel insurance without first turning in your plate. Same outcome if you keep the plates and cancel the insurance.
If you had valid insurance at the date of the stop but did not have evidence of same, you should do one of two things, when you address the “no proof of insurance” violation with the court, whether by yourself or through me or another traffic citation resolution business, have your “Evidence of Nevada Insurance Coverage” to show. FYI - your bill for an up coming term of coverage is not sufficient - the courts will not accept this. The reason, the courts know that drivers try to game the system by attempting to show insurance coverage when in reality they had none because the driver did not pay the premiums.
Generally if the the Evidence of Nevada Insurance Coverage is not available at the date of court appearance, the courts give you 30 days to show proof to avoid a court imposed fine. The dirty little secret is that the DMV is requiring courts to report immediately after one week of a driver’s failure to show proof. While the Justice and Municipal Courts in Las Vegas and Henderson have said nothing, the North Las Vegas Municipal Court, in open court, has advised me of the DMV requirements. If you fail to show proof in to the North Las Vegas Municipal Court within the one week, you then need to go to the DMV and show proof of insurance coverage.
DMV assigns demerits against your license / Violation description goes to you insurance company
Sunday, June 22, 2008
While 1) demerits against your license and 2) the description of the type of violation (moving vs. nonmoving) reported to your insurance company are related, both are different and serve different purposes.
In Nevada, generally, drivers are allowed to accumulate 12 demerits over a rolling 12 month period. The demerits associated with a conviction for a violation are deleted from the total demerits accumulated after 12 months. However, the description of the type of convictions remain part of your permanent driving record (this is what your insurance company sees). According to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), you should receive a notification by mail from the DMV's Driver License Review Section when you reach 3 or more points. If you have accumulated between 3 and 11 points, you may have 3 points removed by completing a DMV-approved traffic safety course. When you receive 12 or more points in any 12-month period, the DMV will automatically suspend your drivers license for 6 months. FYI - getting caught driving with a suspended license generally comes with an extension of suspension of one year.
A common misnomer is that courts award demerits. In reality, the DMV decides how many points or demerits are allocated for each type of violation. Generally, a driver receives demerits only if they are convicted of a moving violation. This is why we, like any other traffic citation resolution services, argue for a parking citation - a nonmoving violation. Demerits are an administrative function to account for what a court has convicted you of. So courts can convict a driver for reckless driving and assess a fine against him/her (this is where the court duties end); the DMV on the other hand accounts for the reckless driving as 8 demerits.
The description of the violation you were convicted of is what your insurance company is able to obtain. This is why we also, like any other traffic citation resolution services, argue for a parking citation - a nonmoving violation. Insurance companies like to see that their insured drivers receive only parking citations because the citation is not for a moving incident where neither property is damaged, nor are persons inured. .
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