No Insurance Ticket Adds 4 Points To Driving Record

Potential penalties for a “No Insurance” ticket in Missouri include:  driver’s license suspension, 4 points added to your driving record, 15 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.

Driving Without Insurance Is Illegal In Missouri

Driving without insurance is illegal and is considered a class D misdemeanor (if it’s your first offense) in Missouri.

The criminal offense of driving an uninsured vehicle may be described on your ticket in the following ways:

• Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility
• Failure to Maintain Insurance
• No Proof of Insurance
• No Insurance

The Missouri statute regarding driving without insurance is called the “Duty To Maintain Financial Responsibility” law, RSMO 303.025.

Penalties For “No Insurance” Ticket In Missouri

Here are the potential penalties for a FIRST-TIME offense of “Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility” or “No Insurance”:

• 4 points added to your driving record
• Suspension of your driver’s license

Potential penalties for a SECOND offense of driving without insurance include the following:

• 4 points added to your driving record
• 15 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $500
• Suspension of your driver’s license
• Order of Supervision instead of points

How Many Points Can You Accumulate Before Your License Is Suspended?

Missouri will suspend your driver’s license for 30 days if you accumulate 8 points within 18 months (if it’s your first offense).

Your license will be revoked for 1 year if you accumulate 12 points within 12 months, 18 points within 24 months, or 24 points within 36 months.

A “No Insurance” ticket is a 4-point ticket, while most standard speeding tickets are either 2-point or 3-point violations.

How Long Will Your Driver’s License Be Suspended For Failure To Maintain Insurance?

Your license can be suspended when you plead guilty to a “No Insurance” ticket:

• 1st Suspension – 0 days
• 2nd Suspension – 90 days
• 3rd Suspension – 1 year

If you plead guilty to a “No Insurance” ticket involving an accident and you failed to pay for the damages to the other vehicle, your license will be suspended for 1 year.

What Happens If You Get Into An Accident And Your Car Is Not Insured

If you are involved in an accident and your vehicle is not insured, your license can be suspended (see above), and you will have to pay for the damages for which you are liable.

Contact the attorney for the insurance company representing the other driver to negotiate a payment plan or lump sum amount to pay for the damages. You may have to make several payments before the insurance company’s attorney will request that the Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR) lift your suspension.

Failure to pay for the damages resulting from the accident will cause your license to be suspended for 1 year. You will not be able to reinstate your driver’s license until you provide proof to the DOR that you paid for the damages.

After a license suspension for failure to maintain insurance when an accident is involved, you can apply for reinstatement of your license. You will have to file an SR-22 form proving that you have liability insurance for your vehicle, and you will have to maintain that insurance for 3 years from your reinstatement eligibility date.

How Long Does A “No Insurance” Ticket Stay On Your Driving Record?

If you plead guilty to a “No Insurance” ticket, 4 points will be added to your driving record and the conviction will remain on your driving record forever.

Unlike most traffic violations which are removed from your driving record after a certain number of years, a conviction for “Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility,” “No Insurance,” or “No Proof of Insurance” will never be eligible for removal from your driving record.

Why Did You Get A “No Insurance” Ticket If Your Car Was Insured?

It is very common to get a “No Insurance” ticket, even if your car was insured, if you had an expired insurance card in your possession at the time you were pulled over by police.

Many people now keep proof of insurance on their iPhone, but not all police officers will accept that as valid proof of insurance.

Do You Need An Attorney To Get Your “No Insurance” Ticket Dismissed?

If you received a “No Insurance” ticket but your vehicle was insured at the time of the traffic stop, you can call the court clerk and ask if you can bring proof of insurance to court and ask the judge to dismiss your ticket. (Some courts will allow you to bring proof to the court clerk’s office without requiring you to appear in court.)

Keep in mind that some courts will not allow you to request a dismissal of your “No Insurance” ticket without having an attorney representing you.

You can call the court clerk prior to your court date to ask about the court’s policy regarding “No Insurance” tickets. You can also read my previous blog post discussing how some courts in St. Louis handle “No Insurance” tickets.

How To Get A “No Insurance” Ticket Reduced To A No-Point Violation

You will need to hire an experienced traffic law attorney if you want to get your “No Insurance” ticket reduced from a 4-point violation to a no-point infraction, such as “Illegal Parking.”

You won’t have to appear in court if you hire an attorney to represent you, and you will be given at least 30 days to pay any fines or court costs that you may owe. The amount of the fine will depend on whether your vehicle was insured at the time of the traffic stop or you purchased insurance afterward.

What To Do About A “No Insurance” Ticket If You Don’t Own A Car

If you received a “No Insurance” ticket while driving a vehicle that you borrowed from a friend, contact your friend to ask if they can provide you with proof of insurance. If that doesn’t work, you can purchase “Non-Owner’s Insurance” or “Non-Driver’s Insurance” and provide that to your attorney who is representing you in court.

If you no longer own the vehicle you were driving at the time you received the “No Insurance” ticket, you will have to provide proof of insurance for the vehicle you currently own.

The judge will not dismiss a “No Insurance” ticket just because you provided proof that you purchased insurance after the fact, but your attorney can get the 4-point “No Insurance” ticket reduced to a no-point infraction that won’t affect your driving record.

________________________________________

If you received a Missouri “No Insurance” ticket and you want to get it reduced to a no-point infraction, contact St. Louis traffic law attorney Andrea Storey Rogers at (314) 724-5059 or arogers@rogerslawfirmllc.com for a free consultation about your ticket.