Failure To Maintain Liability Insurance Leads To Fines

29 Oct Failure To Maintain Liability Insurance Leads To Fines

The State of Louisiana recently sent out letters to driver’s license holders regarding lapsed automobile liability insurance policies, past and present. The letters are a notice to those with lapses that they will have to pay a fine or risk having their fines turned over to a collection agency. The state has issued some clarification on the issue, and below are those clarifications.

Update on LA Office of Motor Vehicles Debt Collection Letters

As previously reported, the LA Office of Motor Vehicles (LOMV) recently sent out 1.2 million letters seeking the payment of fines relating to failure to maintain liability insurance. The letters indicated that persons who did not pay the fines would be turned over to a debt collection agency in 60 days.

One of the problems associated with these fine collection letters is that many of the letters were for alleged violations from many years ago wherein people had sold their vehicles years before or who had moved out of state or who cannot find proof of insurance from many years ago.

The LOMV has agreed to the following procedures to help resolve these debt collection letters:
1. Refunds will be awarded to anyone who paid a fine in error.
2. LOMV will evaluate appeals from persons who do not believe that they have violated the law requiring that insurance be maintained on a vehicle. Fines under investigation or appeal will not be turned over to the debt collection agency until the appeal has been concluded.
3. The LOMV has extended hours of operation for their field offices from 8 am to 4 pm. The Call Center hours will be 7:30 am until 8 pm on weekdays and 8 am to 8 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
4. A Vehicle Disposition Form is now available for those individuals that have extenuating circumstances regarding changes in ownership of an automobile and the required proof of insurance. This form can be found HERE.

AWS will provide additional information and clarification as it becomes available. As always, AWS is staying on top of these issues and if you have any questions please contact one of our agents. Call anytime at 1-800-375-5563.