Court Case Prompts Focus on Penn. Auto Insurance Law

Philadelphia -- Free-Press-Release.com-- Aug 26, 2011 -- Is it legal for vehicle owners in Pennsylvania to keep their cars registered and uninsured if they don't drive the cars while they're uninsured?

That's the question at the heart of an appeals case filed in June with the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. And according to a memorandum opinion filed by Judge P. Kevin Brobson this week, the answer is no, at least in the case of Amanda Provinzano.

The case had its beginnings on Aug. 7, 2010, when Provinzano's Pennsylvania auto insurance company stopped covering her vehicle after she failed to pay her premiums. Provinzano said she later purchased a policy from a separate company with an effective date of Sept. 10, 2010. But by that time, the state's department of transportation (PennDOT) had already been notified of the lapse in coverage.

Some background necessary for understanding this case: In Pennsylvania, all car insurance companies are required to notify the PennDOT of coverage terminations. That's because the state suspends the registration of a car for at least three months if it turns out to be uninsured. And if it turns out the vehicle owner drove the car or let others drive it during that period, he or she can also receive a three-month license suspension.

But there's an exception to this rule: if the period where there was no coverage was 31 days or less, and if the offender did not operate the uninsured vehicle during that period, registration will be reinstated.

Source: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/75/00.017.086.000..HTM

According to the memorandum, Provinzano testified that she had driven her mother's car—not her own—while she was uninsured, making her exempt from the registration suspension. And the lower court sided in favor of Provinzano because of this.

But Judge Brobson points out that not driving the vehicle is only half of the exception to the law.

Her coverage ended on August 7, and she did not get a new insurance policy in place until September 10. So she was uninsured for 34 days, which exceeds the period outlined in the exception.

Judge Bronson says in his memorandum that, because of this, only half of the exceptions terms were met and that the lower court’s order should be reversed.

The opinion serves as a reminder to Pennsylvanians that the fact alone that they haven’t driven an uninsured vehicle doesn’t mean that they will not suffer any consequences for letting coverage lapse.

To learn more about this and other insurance issues, readers can go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/pennsylvania/ where they will find informative resource pages and a quote-comparison generator that can help them find the best rates quickly.

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Online Auto Insurance
Benjamin Zitney
http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/