Had coverage with Mercury insurance. Expired 12/05/07, but renewed it on 12/07/07. During the on day lapse was hit by an uninsured vehicle and now Mercury insurance states there is no grace period, so I wanted to know if there is a California law that states other wise?
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floor paint
No, unfortuately not.
No coverage – policy was expired and why would they want to cover the loss?
The company would look at from the stand point that you might NOT have paid the renewal if you had not have had the accident.
Looks like this one is one you.
Good luck and I hope this helps!
UNFORTUNATELY THERE IS NO GRACE PERIOD.
No, not a second!
Mercury is a substandard company, they won’t do diddley squat for you that’s not spelled out in the policy.
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You are either insured, or not. There is no grace period. If you were driving during the time you were not insured, you were not covered and should not have been driving. There is a California law on the subject.
SACRAMENTO—Californians who operate their vehicles without auto insurance could have their vehicle registrations suspended effective October 1 as part of SB 1500, designed to reduce the risk of economic losses sustained as the result of collisions involving uninsured motorists.
The legislation, signed in 2004 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to notify a customer about possible vehicle registration suspension if their insurance company fails to provide proof of insurance within 30 days of a vehicle’s initial registration with the department, or within 45 days once DMV has been notified by an insurance carrier about a policy cancellation or change in coverage.
“This new law is intended to protect Californians by reducing the number of uninsured vehicles on our roads,” said Sunne Wright McPeak, Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency during a 10 a.m. news conference today at the DMV South Sacramento Field Office. “Each year thousands of collisions occur involving uninsured vehicle owners.” Secretary McPeak was joined by State Senator Jackie Speier, who authored the law, and George Valverde, Director of the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
“SB 1500 requires insurers to electronically transmit insurance verifications to the DMV and it directs the DMV to notify a vehicle owner if the vehicle is not insured,” said Director Valverde. “Beginning October 1, we’ll be in a position to identify vehicles that are uninsured and begin the process of notifying motorists of the need to get their vehicle insured.”
The initial provision of SB 1500, which took effect Jan. 1, 2006, requires that insurance companies doing business in California electronically report all private-use vehicle (except trailers, off-highway vehicles or boats) liability policies to DMV, both when a policy is issued and/or cancelled.
Since July 1, 2006, law enforcement agencies have been able to electronically verify if any private-use vehicle is properly insured by accessing the department’s vehicle registration database. DMV statistics show that there are more than 23 million licensed drivers in California who operate almost 30 million vehicles.
NO, there is no “grace period”. ONce the policy is expired (at, I might remind you, 12:01am, on 12/05) there’s no coverage.
Auto insurance has no grace period. Anywhere. Cancelled is cancelled.
Its not a state law. It depends on the company as to whether or not they have grace periods in the policy.
Take it as a lesson learned not to let your policy lapse.
Think about this. if there was a lapse in coverage, you would have to get the car reinspected with photos taken, if you already had an accident and then got insurance for a preexisting condition, dont you think they would realize that the car is already damaged? If this were allowed, no one would get insurance until they actually had an accident, thereby bankrupting all insurance agencies…
Does anyone see the irony of this owner getting hit by another “uninsured vehicle”?
Sorry, you are out of luck. You went past your “grace period” when the policy lapsed. I know, it’s bad luck, but you did not have coverage at the time of the accident. You were breaking the law by driving that day, too.
Never let your insurance lapse, and if it has been lapsed for some reason, dont drive, until you get a replacement.
Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully you keep your policy’s active in the future.