TIFTON — Next week, the state will notify 275,000 people — 969 in Tift County — that they will be fined for not having vehicle insurance. Another 247 in Tift County will be notified that their insurance has lapsed by at least a day. Members of both groups will be fined $25.

Tift County Tax Commissioner Gene Goode said he talked with a man Sunday who had canceled insurance on one of his vehicles last week.

“The tag was good until August,” Goode said. “I told him I thought he would have to pay $25 and I checked with the state and they said he would.”

Georgia law requires all drivers to have liability coverage. Those caught driving without it can be charged with a misdemeanor and punished by up to a year in jail and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

Before the state began tracking auto insurance policies using a computer database, people would buy the minimum insurance required, receive the insurance card and then cancel the policies. The tactic allowed them to present the insurance card to law enforcement officials as valid when they were pulled over. The system implemented in January flags vehicles that are registered for license plates but not insured.

Goode said motorists in Tift County who don’t have vehicle insurance or are driving without proper coverage face suspension of their driving privileges. The database will show those who have allowed their insurance to lapse, so those visiting his office to have their vehicles registered and tagged won’t be able to complete the process. Goode’s office collects the $25 fees imposed by the state.

Drivers have 30 days to pay the fine or prove the database’s information is in error. In cases where a vehicle is sold or traded to a car dealer, or wrecked and considered a total loss, Goode said drivers can visit his office and sign a sworn statement that they no longer own the vehicle. The fine would then be waived.

After the first batch of notices are mailed April 1, the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicle Safety will mail letters to new offenders each week. Second offenders will be fined $60. Third offenders will have their automobile registration revoked.

“If you are going to cancel the insurance, you need to cancel the registration in this office,” Goode said. “Don’t let it lapse even one day. There is no grace period anymore.”

Motorists can visit the GDMVS Web site at www.dmvs.ga.gov and click on “insurance status” to check their information. Visitors to the website need to have the vehicle’s VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) and title number to the vehicle information at hand when they visit the site.



To contact reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321, ext. 208.