Driving uninsured? Law enforcement will soon be able to find you even if you never get pulled over

In 2018, statewide, the Idaho State Police issued about 4,500 citations to drivers for not having insurance at the time of a traffic stop or crash.

Well now the law is accelerating efforts to find uninsured vehicles before they even hit the road

“If you’re picked up though, without insurance or without registration, you have a chance of getting maybe getting your license suspended. Also, there’s a three-hundred dollar fine for driving without registration on your vehicle,” said Idaho State Legislature district 35 representatives, Rod Furniss.

The Idaho Transportation Department has a new portal with all insurance companies that matches vehicle identification numbers to insurance policies.

“Each month they’re going to match those VIN numbers, after two months of consecutive non-matching, so we know that people, those VIN numbers do not have insurance, a notice will go out to those individuals that say, ‘you have 30 days to get insurance or your registration will be taken’,” said Furniss.

The car’s registration will be suspended after 90 days from the first notice if there is still no insurance. It will cost $75 to re-register the vehicle, on top of any citations they receive from law enforcement.

“We’ve had many people here hit by an uninsured motorist, people just can’t afford that, and so it’s a good thing for the state of Idaho. We’ve already had the laws in the books, we just didn’t have a way to enforce those laws,” said Furniss.

“We’re seeing a lot of uninsured motorist out here, it’s still very concerning even today in 2019,” said Idaho State Police, Lt. Chris Weadick.

The Idaho State Police is hoping this new change will result in voluntary compliance from uninsured drivers

“Overall, that’s just going to promote a better driving environment for our citizens out here that are paying high insurance rates because of these uninsured motorists,” said Weadick.

The system will take into effect January 2020, the first notices to go out will be in March.

If you have a car that is registered but not insured because it’s in storage or not in use, the law allows you to email DMV to have your vehicle exempt.