NO INSURANCE Driving with Dealer Plates.

[chtoumy]

HI guys,

Long story short, I moved from France almost 4 years ago where I use to be a mechanic, I brought my car with me 1989 BMW 320I convertible, tried to find insurance for my car but was always denied because my model doesnt exist in Canada, we only have here the 320I 2 doors (not convertible) or the 325I convertible, so when I shoped arround for insurance I could never find one, always denied as my car doesnt appear in their system. I work as a mechanic here too, last weekend I asked my service manager, not the owner of the shop, if I could use the dealer plate, I had a weding on saturday, well I got pulled over saturday night at 12.30am, I gave my ownership of the car and the dealer plate insurance (that is always in the plate bag), well I was shocked when the officer told me that I was actually driving without insurance!!! I got my car tow to my house, and I have to go to court for driving with "no insurance" and "illegal use of dealer plate".

I know I should have known better, I'm still an Immigrant here and scared to be send back to France and my wife cant come because she's Canadian.
I was so happy using my car and know if I could only reward.
I did get a letter from my insurance saying that I did tried to get my car insured and working on getting another one from a differente insurance that I also tried this summer, it's been 3 summers in a row that I've been trying to get insurance !!!

Need help !!!!

[tr!xxy]

I don't think you'd be sent back because of a driving conviction. Talk to paralegal, your issue is unique and I doubt that many have experienced it.

[mikeymike1]

HI guys,

Long story short, I moved from France almost 4 years ago where I use to be a mechanic, I brought my car with me 1989 BMW 320I convertible, tried to find insurance for my car but was always denied because my model doesnt exist in Canada, we only have here the 320I 2 doors (not convertible) or the 325I convertible, so when I shoped arround for insurance I could never find one, always denied as my car doesnt appear in their system. I work as a mechanic here too, last weekend I asked my service manager, not the owner of the shop, if I could use the dealer plate, I had a weding on saturday, well I got pulled over saturday night at 12.30am, I gave my ownership of the car and the dealer plate insurance (that is always in the plate bag), well I was shocked when the officer told me that I was actually driving without insurance!!! I got my car tow to my house, and I have to go to court for driving with "no insurance" and "illegal use of dealer plate".

I know I should have known better, I'm still an Immigrant here and scared to be send back to France and my wife cant come because she's Canadian.
I was so happy using my car and know if I could only reward.
I did get a letter from my insurance saying that I did tried to get my car insured and working on getting another one from a differente insurance that I also tried this summer, it's been 3 summers in a row that I've been trying to get insurance !!!

Need help !!!!

You're a mechanic for a dealership and using a dealer plate on a personal car??? you should have known better and the service manager should have known better too.
Dealer plates and garage insurance are only for vehicles owned and operated by the named dealership/business.
The only exception is when a dealer is transporting auction bought vehicles from the auction straight to the dealership.

[PMM1]

Hi


You're a mechanic for a dealership and using a dealer plate on a personal car??? you should have known better and the service manager should have known better too.
Dealer plates and garage insurance are only for vehicles owned and operated by the named dealership/business.
The only exception is when a dealer is transporting auction bought vehicles from the auction straight to the dealership.

Once the OP sorts out the driving without insurance. The car, if imported through RIV should be insurable, since it is importable in that it is older than 15 years.

[fastlayne]

What car? The OP is going to have to sell it to pay the $5000 fine.

And he will be taking the bus, since it will be extremely expensive for him to get any insurance on any vehicle.

[Tornado F2]

It's hard to believe somebody could be denied insurance because their particular model of car "isn't in the system". What happens with collectors of rare cars? Besides, couldn't they insure the OP himself, as a driver, but without any coverage on the car itself? That way the risk of damage to the car is all on him, while others are covered if his driving is dangerous or negligent.

[chtoumy]

I do have currently 2 cars insured and 1 motorcycle and tried to get insurance for this one as well, I do have a letter from my actual insurance saying that they could not insure it ! Another insurance told me to come back when the car would be 25 years old so I should be able to insure it as a classic. I'm trying to get a letter from this insurance as well !

[slomo]

well I got pulled over saturday night at 12.30am.

At the time of the morning with a dealer plate, that's a given. No one is test driving a car that early.

[mastereh]

is the car right hand drive?

[chtoumy]

Well I didnt pretend to be road testing the car. No the car is a left hand !

[tdotraptors]

How do cops even know if drivers are insured or not if they possess a slip(invalid/cancelled slip but not expired)

[bargain man]

im pretty sure the french drive on the same side of the road as we do. It is the british that drive on the left side

[spike1128]

I do have currently 2 cars insured and 1 motorcycle and tried to get insurance for this one as well, I do have a letter from my actual insurance saying that they could not insure it ! Another insurance told me to come back when the car would be 25 years old so I should be able to insure it as a classic. I'm trying to get a letter from this insurance as well !

OP. I wouldn't risk it if I were you. Dealer plates are only supposed to be used on dealer cars. One of the RFD guys used a dealer plate on his personal car in order to sell it, because he unplated his car before selling. Got caught by the cop, the car owner got charged, but the test driver didn't get charge.Not worth it

you only need to wait 2 more years till your car turns classic. Moreover, does the car even exist in the USA under the admissible list? I assume if they let you bring it over here from Europe, it would be admissible and insurable.

To the guy who is asking if it's a right hand drive. If he is from UK, he would be doing a RHD. I doubt it. The OP said he was from France.

[1010101010101]

How do cops even know if drivers are insured or not if they possess a slip(invalid/cancelled slip but not expired)

Im pretty sure cops dont have a system or program to see if the insurance is valid on a vehicle. Although cops can make a call to the insurance company to verify, but in this case it was dealership plates/12:30am.

Can dealer plates be used after hours? Rather than the regular 9-5 shop hours?

To the OP pay someone like points to help you lower the offence? Or go by yourself and plead to a lesser offence? good luck..

[BHA1]

I thought the dealer plate was what carried the insurance? Since the plate gets moved from car to car frequently, I don't see how you could insure a specific vehicle that the plate would be attached to... at busy dealerships the plate may be on 10 cars in one day as they get test driven and moved around.

So it sounds like maybe you borrowed a plate that had invalid insurance. I'd talk to the owner of the plate about why they don't have proper insurance on it.

In any case, I don't see how the ticket the cop wrote is actually for you. You aren't the owner of the plate, because the owner of the plate is a business. You are a representative or employee of that business (just like every car salesperson is a representative of the dealer). If the owner of the business wants you to drive with that plate, they give it to you.

I suspect the owner of the plate is the one who should be in trouble, not you. I would seriously consider fighting the ticket, saying that you legally borrowed (and were fully authorized to use) a dealer plate, and didn't realize it wasn't insured.

I'd look up WHO is supposed to be responsible for making sure it is insured... is each driver using that plate supposed to make sure it is insured? Because if not, I'm really scared to test drive cars at dealerships now.. will I get a $5k ticket if the cops pull me over?

I suspect the dealership or garage has the responsibility to ensure the plate is insured at all times. I would seriously look into this because it doesn't sound right that you got a ticket when borrowing an improperly insured plate.