Many of our clients charged with Driving with No Insurance – Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, Section (2)(1)(a) – were caught driving a newly purchased car home, or taking it to the shop to get it serviced. And now they have a $5000 ticket that they have to appear in court to defend.
The law for a No Insurance charge is very specific
The law for No Insurance was written in such as way, that it removes most common excuses and circumstances regarding the lack of insurance. The law makes it mandatory that every car in Ontario that is driven must be insured, hence the word “compulsory” in the first part of the act. The province doesn’t care about why you were driving without insurance. They simply need to prove that you were driving a car that was not insured. Period. And that equals $5,000 fine, plus court costs of 25% for a whopping total of $6,250.
Buying? Selling? Short test drive?
It doesn’t matter. If the car was not insured, and the ownership is in your name, you will be charged, regardless if you drove 1 kilometre or 1 meter. Often, this is a very frustrating experience for a car buyer, as they simply wanted to get the car home.
There is no “grace period”
The law is the law. There is no grace period for a new car, where you can drive it before an insurance policy kicks in. You need to call your insurance company and arrange to get the automobile insured prior to the final purchase. You need confirmation of a valid policy in order to drive the car back to your home.
Get legal advice
Even if you are frustrated, do no attempt to defend this on your own without getting some free legal advice. You may think you have a valid reason for not having insurance, or you may be angry. However, this will not help you when you get to court. There are specific strategies and defences that you need to be aware of in order to try to minimize your No Insurance fine. Take the No Insurance penalty test below to get a better idea of the penalties you will be facing once you get to court.
