“Avoid yourself some stress and potentially hundreds of dollars in added fees by following these steps.”
From the beach cruises on those beautiful California days to crawling at 5 MPH on the 405, your car has been a loyal companion – but you’ve decided it’s time to part ways for a while. The most common reasons our clients have shared with us include military deployment, studying abroad, financial changes or environmental purposes. Regardless of the reason, you’ll be left with a decision to make with your insurance policy.
Your options will be:
- Suspending your policy.
- Canceling your policy.
- Reducing coverage on your policy.
- Remove yourself from the policy until further notice.
In this post, we’ll be going over what to do if you’ve decided to suspend or cancel your insurance policy altogether and are certain your car will not be driven by you or anybody else during this time period.
Whether you’re being reassigned within the military or deciding to do some soul searching in the mountains of Peru for 6-months, you should be aware of some requirements before you ditch your registration bill and insurance policy. Avoid yourself some stress and potentially hundreds of dollars in added fees by following these steps:
File Planned Non-Operation (PNO) – Unfortunately, breaking up with your vehicle is not free. Don’t worry, this is the only step that comes with a fee of about $20. A PNO lets the DMV know that the vehicle will not be driven, towed, stored, or parked on public roads for the entire registration year. This also gets you out of having to pay your registration for the upcoming registration term. Click here to file a PNO.
Suspend/Cancel your insurance policy – Whether you should suspend or cancel depends on a number of factors. Once you’ve determined which of the two is the best option for you, contact your insurance company and inform them of your decision. If you’re unsure which suits you best, give us a call at (714) 736-9048 so we can offer some guidance.
Request an affidavit of non-use: Believe it or not, owning an uninsured vehicle is illegal without proper permissions. Once you’ve suspended or canceled your insurance policy, you’ll need to get an affidavit of non-use from the DMV. An affidavit of non-use is free to submit and basically gives you the permission to own an uninsured vehicle. We know… it’s annoying, but it’s the law. Click here to get that started.
Parking an unregistered car – After you’ve filed your PNO and received your affidavit of non-use, you’ll need to properly store your vehicle. You won’t be able to legally park your car on a public street, even directly in front of your house – so make plans to park your vehicle in a garage, private driveway or in storage.
Sell – If this vehicular break-up is for good, you might be looking to sell your vehicle altogether. Consider one of our partners below and let them know Street Smart Insurance so they know you’re in the family!
We hope the steps above will help you get on your way with minimal disruption to your plans. If you need any help along the way, you can reach our dedicated staff 24/7 by calling us at (714) 736-9048.