Old car crashed + next car purchased + insurance office closed for the weekend = magical amnesty?

October 10, 2008 11:24 PM

Canadian Auto Insurance Question: Nebulous limbo time between vehicles edition. "Everybody Knows" that there is a 14 day grace period to get your papers sorted out. Is there?

The precise situation is that one vehicle has just been totalled by a young lady who had insurance under her father's policy [last car in a highway pileup; she says she's okay; she's going to the doctor just in case] and she is now setting up a new policy with the same insurance company for an 18-year-old used car she has just purchased.
Almost everyone that I've spoken to says that putting her old plates on this car and keeping the bill of sale with her will be okay for up to 2 weeks while insurance and registration are negotiated.


This doesn't match well with my impression of insurance companies.


I've already heard enough of "you'll be fine", and I've heard a couple of people say that it's crazy to go for a millisecond without documented everything, but I want to know what the law says.
Can anyone help me look this up?

I ask not because it's urgent right now [it isn't], but because it is the friday before a long weekend and if I *needed* an answer I know I couldn't ask the insurance company until tuesday.

To further complicate the issue, this vehicle has just had a safety inspection [vehicles over 15 years old need this inspection to be insured here] which identified worn brake pads + rotors. The parts have been ordered and I will have them replaced by tomorrow. Does the legality of things change based on this inspection if the vehicle is not insured either way?
And because this is the long weekend, the insurance currently on the vehicle won't be removed until tuesday anyway. Does that count for anything? Or against anything?

And if this mythic 14 day grace period doesn't exist, why is it such a popular answer?

posted by Acari to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

First off, this differs by province, so there is no "Canadian" answer. Second, there is a difference between registration and insurance. Transferring registration from one vehicle to another to allow the same plates to be used for licensing is generally ok - in B.C. you have 10 days to register the new vehicle with the old plates.

Insurance is a completely different topic and also varies not only by province but by insurance company. Certainly one of the main requirements of a valid policy is a properly licensed vehicle, but there are likely any number of other requirements, and only the policy will answer the question.

Doesn't the insurance company have a website with a FAQ list?
posted by birdsquared at 12:15 AM on October 11, 2008

If it helps, this in is Alberta.

This insurance company has only the barest semblance of a web presence, and no policy details to be found.

For the sake of future readers, I'll update this thread when I talk to an insurance rep on tuesday.

Thanks.
posted by Acari at 7:52 AM on October 11, 2008

FWIW, here in Ontario, the plates go with the owner/registrant, not the vehicle. You could hang on to them for years between vehicles (or even order personalized plates and never put them on any vehicle). (IANAL)
posted by winston at 9:02 AM on October 11, 2008

For what it's worth, I heard about this "two-week period of grace" from an Alberta person. I live in BC, and tried it out. My wife was pulled over and ticketed for driving without insurance (my wife is Japanese and this is just after I came back to BC after spending ten years in Japan - I had very little knowledge of how things worked here back then).

The obvious answer is to call up the insurance company.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:37 PM on October 11, 2008

Acari writes "If it helps, this in is Alberta."

Alberta is delightfully informal with vehicle registration. As long as you have removed from service the vehicle currently listed on your insurance card (sold, totaled, stolen, whatever) you can use your plate and insurance on your replacement vehicle for up to two weeks. The only caveat is that the replacement has to be the same class of vehicle (so no using a motor cycle plate on a car).

However I'd definitely check with my agent on this as it may vary or have changed, at least on the insurance portion. For example I did not require a safety inspection on my 30 year old truck to get insurance.

No such grace period exists in BC. And it's a serious hefty fine to drive with the wrong plates on a vehicle (something like $500 and 6 points).
posted by Mitheral at 9:05 PM on October 11, 2008

Oh also just give your insurance agent a call, they may be willing to fax you or your registry an insurance card saving you a trip to their office. Mine would give me a weeks worth of basic coverage free for the asking.
posted by Mitheral at 9:08 PM on October 11, 2008

overdueupdate:
According to an insurance guy, slapping the old plate on the new car would have been fine, which is nice to know even after the time it could have been useful.

thanks, folks.
posted by Acari at 12:49 PM on November 10, 2008