Problem with the DMV need advice

airplanemechanic

Diamond Member
Nov 8, 2014
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I'm not sure how to explain this issue but I'll try.

I have an old fishing truck that I have just to pull a large bass boat that I own. So.....since the truck sits 363 days out of the year, when I don't use it I cancel insurance on it and go to the DMV website and fill out a "statement of non-use" that signals to the DMV that you don't have insurance and you know it and don't plan on using the vehicle. This hasn't been an issue and I've been doing it for multiple vehicles for years.

On January 10th I got a notification that I cancelled insurance on the vehicle back in the end of October (which is true.) However, if you put insurance on a vehicle it cancels the statement of non-use. So when you cancel insurance you have to go back to the DMV website and fill out another SONU app. Well, when I did that for this truck it gave an error and said there was already a SONU on this vehicle.

Fast forward and on January 10th or so I got a notification from the DMV that there is now a flag on my license because I let liability insurance lapse. I called them today and told them that I can't do anything about this because their system blocked me from reinstating the SONU. The reason being is that State Farm underwriting takes about a week or two to even report to the DMV that you change insurance status on your vehicle. So when I went to put the SONU on it, the website gave an error saying it already had one because the insurance company HAD NOT REPORTED that I had put insurance on it a few days prior.

Back in December I renewed my license and at that time I placed a hard copy SONU on the truck knowing that I had it set to expire December 31st so I just renewed it a couple of weeks early. They had not mentioned any issues at all at that time regarding insurance on this truck. So 3 weeks before I got a notification about no insurance I physically went to the DMV to renew the SONU in person. That obviously shows I had no plan or intent to use this vehicle.

So I have a DMV supervisor supposed to call me soon about this issue. Does anyone have any advice on what to tell them? I think I have enough here to tell them that it's not my fault their system is running behind and thus won't let the driver renew his SONU in a timely manner.
 
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Damn.... that looks like a confusing and inconvenient way of legally hauling/pulling a boat.
 
Damn.... that looks like a confusing and inconvenient way of hauling a boat.

It's really not complicated. Basically the vehicle sits unused and uninsured until I'm ready to use it. I call state farm, tell them put insurance on it and they say ok. I go fishing. come back. wash the boat and park the truck. I then call state farm and tell them cancel insurance and they say ok. I then simply hop on the website, enter a little bit of data and submit a SONU for the truck and its good to go. Rather than paying almost 1000 a year in insurance for a truck that doesn't go 100 miles in a year, I pay MAYBE 30 dollars a year for the few days that I use it.

But when their website won't let me renew the SONU then it ties my hands. They want to charge me 125 dollar cancellation fee when their website is what prevented me from renewing the SONU.
 
Damn.... that looks like a confusing and inconvenient way of hauling a boat.

It's really not complicated. Basically the vehicle sits unused and uninsured until I'm ready to use it. I call state farm, tell them put insurance on it and they say ok. I go fishing. come back. wash the boat and park the truck. I then call state farm and tell them cancel insurance and they say ok. I then simply hop on the website, enter a little bit of data and submit a SONU for the truck and its good to go. Rather than paying almost 1000 a year in insurance for a truck that doesn't go 100 miles in a year, I pay MAYBE 30 dollars a year for the few days that I use it.

But when their website won't let me renew the SONU then it ties my hands. They want to charge me 125 dollar cancellation fee when their website is what prevented me from renewing the SONU.
I see what you’re saying.

What state are you in?
 
I'm not sure how to explain this issue but I'll try.

I have an old fishing truck that I have just to pull a large bass boat that I own. So.....since the truck sits 363 days out of the year, when I don't use it I cancel insurance on it and go to the DMV website and fill out a "statement of non-use" that signals to the DMV that you don't have insurance and you know it and don't plan on using the vehicle. This hasn't been an issue and I've been doing it for multiple vehicles for years.

On January 10th I got a notification that I cancelled insurance on the vehicle back in the end of October (which is true.) However, if you put insurance on a vehicle it cancels the statement of non-use. So when you cancel insurance you have to go back to the DMV website and fill out another SONU app. Well, when I did that for this truck it gave an error and said there was already a SONU on this vehicle.

Fast forward and on January 10th or so I got a notification from the DMV that there is now a flag on my license because I let liability insurance lapse. I called them today and told them that I can't do anything about this because their system blocked me from reinstating the SONU. The reason being is that State Farm underwriting takes about a week or two to even report to the DMV that you change insurance status on your vehicle. So when I went to put the SONU on it, the website gave an error saying it already had one because the insurance company HAD NOT REPORTED that I had put insurance on it a few days prior.

Back in December I renewed my license and at that time I placed a hard copy SONU on the truck knowing that I had it set to expire December 31st so I just renewed it a couple of weeks early. They had not mentioned any issues at all at that time regarding insurance on this truck. So 3 weeks before I got a notification about no insurance I physically went to the DMV to renew the SONU in person. That obviously shows I had no plan or intent to use this vehicle.

So I have a DMV supervisor supposed to call me soon about this issue. Does anyone have any advice on what to tell them? I think I have enough here to tell them that it's not my fault their system is running behind and thus won't let the driver renew his SONU in a timely manner.

My advice- sell the truck and the boat. If you only use them 2 days a year, use the money you get from the sale and rent a boat the 2 days you go fishing. Save all that headache and liability.
 
Damn.... that looks like a confusing and inconvenient way of hauling a boat.

It's really not complicated. Basically the vehicle sits unused and uninsured until I'm ready to use it. I call state farm, tell them put insurance on it and they say ok. I go fishing. come back. wash the boat and park the truck. I then call state farm and tell them cancel insurance and they say ok. I then simply hop on the website, enter a little bit of data and submit a SONU for the truck and its good to go. Rather than paying almost 1000 a year in insurance for a truck that doesn't go 100 miles in a year, I pay MAYBE 30 dollars a year for the few days that I use it.

But when their website won't let me renew the SONU then it ties my hands. They want to charge me 125 dollar cancellation fee when their website is what prevented me from renewing the SONU.






You will have better luck if you go and talk face to face.
 
Damn.... that looks like a confusing and inconvenient way of hauling a boat.

It's really not complicated. Basically the vehicle sits unused and uninsured until I'm ready to use it. I call state farm, tell them put insurance on it and they say ok. I go fishing. come back. wash the boat and park the truck. I then call state farm and tell them cancel insurance and they say ok. I then simply hop on the website, enter a little bit of data and submit a SONU for the truck and its good to go. Rather than paying almost 1000 a year in insurance for a truck that doesn't go 100 miles in a year, I pay MAYBE 30 dollars a year for the few days that I use it.

But when their website won't let me renew the SONU then it ties my hands. They want to charge me 125 dollar cancellation fee when their website is what prevented me from renewing the SONU.
I see what you’re saying.

What state are you in?

Louisiana. And yea I plan on going BACK to the same DMV I submitted the SONU at in December and talking to them tomorrow. I don't want to sell the truck or boat because I got them at such a great deal. If I ever wanted to REPLACE them later on I would spend twice as much. I have invested a lot of money into fixing up both and if I sold I'd never get my money back. My dad said I got a great deal on the truck and literally stole the boat from the parents of a pastor (I kid you not. I bought the boat from a pastors dad. He showed me his credentials.)
 
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I'm not sure how to explain this issue but I'll try.

I have an old fishing truck that I have just to pull a large bass boat that I own. So.....since the truck sits 363 days out of the year, when I don't use it I cancel insurance on it and go to the DMV website and fill out a "statement of non-use" that signals to the DMV that you don't have insurance and you know it and don't plan on using the vehicle. This hasn't been an issue and I've been doing it for multiple vehicles for years.

On January 10th I got a notification that I cancelled insurance on the vehicle back in the end of October (which is true.) However, if you put insurance on a vehicle it cancels the statement of non-use. So when you cancel insurance you have to go back to the DMV website and fill out another SONU app. Well, when I did that for this truck it gave an error and said there was already a SONU on this vehicle.

Fast forward and on January 10th or so I got a notification from the DMV that there is now a flag on my license because I let liability insurance lapse. I called them today and told them that I can't do anything about this because their system blocked me from reinstating the SONU. The reason being is that State Farm underwriting takes about a week or two to even report to the DMV that you change insurance status on your vehicle. So when I went to put the SONU on it, the website gave an error saying it already had one because the insurance company HAD NOT REPORTED that I had put insurance on it a few days prior.

Back in December I renewed my license and at that time I placed a hard copy SONU on the truck knowing that I had it set to expire December 31st so I just renewed it a couple of weeks early. They had not mentioned any issues at all at that time regarding insurance on this truck. So 3 weeks before I got a notification about no insurance I physically went to the DMV to renew the SONU in person. That obviously shows I had no plan or intent to use this vehicle.

So I have a DMV supervisor supposed to call me soon about this issue. Does anyone have any advice on what to tell them? I think I have enough here to tell them that it's not my fault their system is running behind and thus won't let the driver renew his SONU in a timely manner.

You didn't say which state but if its California it can get crazy.
Recently I had a stroke that affected my peripheral vision partially on one side. The hospital rated me out to the DMV where upon and the DMV then set me a notice suspending my license. Well after going round and round with DMV and a neural optometrist, yes there is such a thing, my drivers license was reinstated. It took months. Anyway the insurance jack up my rated because my license was suspended. It didn't matter that the suspension had nothing at all to do with driving or that there was no violation. It's a friggin racket run by bafoons and assholes and nothing more. Oh yeah to add to the nonsense, in the intervening time my license was up for renewal so when I took the eye test I passed with no glasses so they took the glasses required restriction off of my license. I've worn glasses since I got my first drivers license at 14 and that was a very long time ago indeed.
 
Damn.... that looks like a confusing and inconvenient way of hauling a boat.

It's really not complicated. Basically the vehicle sits unused and uninsured until I'm ready to use it. I call state farm, tell them put insurance on it and they say ok. I go fishing. come back. wash the boat and park the truck. I then call state farm and tell them cancel insurance and they say ok. I then simply hop on the website, enter a little bit of data and submit a SONU for the truck and its good to go. Rather than paying almost 1000 a year in insurance for a truck that doesn't go 100 miles in a year, I pay MAYBE 30 dollars a year for the few days that I use it.

But when their website won't let me renew the SONU then it ties my hands. They want to charge me 125 dollar cancellation fee when their website is what prevented me from renewing the SONU.
I see what you’re saying.

What state are you in?


Louisiana. And yea I plan on going BACK to the same DMV I submitted the SONU at in December and talking to them tomorrow. I don't want to sell the truck or boat because I got them at such a great deal. If I ever wanted to REPLACE them later on I would spend twice as much. I have invested a lot of money into fixing up both and if I sold I'd never get my money back. My dad said I got a great deal on the truck and literally stole the boat from the parents of a pastor (I kid you not. I bought the boat from a pastors dad. He showed me his credentials.)
Louisiana? I’m sure you’re not the only person who has been in that boat. Pun intended. :)

This seems like an easily solved issue by visiting the DMV.
 
Best of luck at the DMV... Just hope and pray you don't get some coonass's wife that hates that her old man spends more time with his boat and truck than he does with her...
Are they common at the DMV’s in Louisiana?

:)
 
I'm not sure how to explain this issue but I'll try.

I have an old fishing truck that I have just to pull a large bass boat that I own. So.....since the truck sits 363 days out of the year, when I don't use it I cancel insurance on it and go to the DMV website and fill out a "statement of non-use" that signals to the DMV that you don't have insurance and you know it and don't plan on using the vehicle. This hasn't been an issue and I've been doing it for multiple vehicles for years.

On January 10th I got a notification that I cancelled insurance on the vehicle back in the end of October (which is true.) However, if you put insurance on a vehicle it cancels the statement of non-use. So when you cancel insurance you have to go back to the DMV website and fill out another SONU app. Well, when I did that for this truck it gave an error and said there was already a SONU on this vehicle.

Fast forward and on January 10th or so I got a notification from the DMV that there is now a flag on my license because I let liability insurance lapse. I called them today and told them that I can't do anything about this because their system blocked me from reinstating the SONU. The reason being is that State Farm underwriting takes about a week or two to even report to the DMV that you change insurance status on your vehicle. So when I went to put the SONU on it, the website gave an error saying it already had one because the insurance company HAD NOT REPORTED that I had put insurance on it a few days prior.

Back in December I renewed my license and at that time I placed a hard copy SONU on the truck knowing that I had it set to expire December 31st so I just renewed it a couple of weeks early. They had not mentioned any issues at all at that time regarding insurance on this truck. So 3 weeks before I got a notification about no insurance I physically went to the DMV to renew the SONU in person. That obviously shows I had no plan or intent to use this vehicle.

So I have a DMV supervisor supposed to call me soon about this issue. Does anyone have any advice on what to tell them? I think I have enough here to tell them that it's not my fault their system is running behind and thus won't let the driver renew his SONU in a timely manner.
My State Farm agent helped me in a similar deal a few years ago. Just tell them (DMV) straight. Even though you talk on the phone, I bet you will be going back to see them. They want your money.
 
Let us know how things work out, airplanemechanic.

I'll be going tomorrow. I'll let you guys know what transpired. What I hope covers me is that I went IN PERSON to submit a SONU on this vehicle 3 weeks before receiving a notice that there was an issue with the insurance. I also have other vehicles so its not like if this truck is not insured I must be driving it uninsured. I have 3 vehicles and 2 motorcycles. I only keep insurance on 1 vehicle and 1 bike. Insurance is taken off and put on other vehicles as needed.

I also just renewed the registration online on the vehicle on December 6th 2019 which could not have happened had all paperwork not been straight on it.
 
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Damn.... that looks like a confusing and inconvenient way of hauling a boat.

It's really not complicated. Basically the vehicle sits unused and uninsured until I'm ready to use it. I call state farm, tell them put insurance on it and they say ok. I go fishing. come back. wash the boat and park the truck. I then call state farm and tell them cancel insurance and they say ok. I then simply hop on the website, enter a little bit of data and submit a SONU for the truck and its good to go. Rather than paying almost 1000 a year in insurance for a truck that doesn't go 100 miles in a year, I pay MAYBE 30 dollars a year for the few days that I use it.

But when their website won't let me renew the SONU then it ties my hands. They want to charge me 125 dollar cancellation fee when their website is what prevented me from renewing the SONU.
Sounds like your problem is a heck of a lot of unneeded state government bureaucracy.

Here in MI I store a car 4-5 months a year depending on how long winter hangs around. All I do is let the insurance folks know it’s off the road until I notify them otherwise and they cancel the coverage on it and adjust the premium. I don’t have to tell the state anything but they somehow know the coverage is suspended because its plate tab expires about the time I usually unstore it. So the first year I thought I’d buy the new tag prior to getting it out so I could slap it on before driving it away. However, both on line and at a Sect of State office (our DMV) kiosk, I wasn’t able to buy a new tag because the car wasn’t insured.
 
Ok here is the update. After spending over 2 hours at the DMV this is what basically happened:

I got there and waited almost an hour to be seen. I get to the ladies desk and explain the whole situation. She asks me if I have proof of a statement of non use on the vehicle while it was uninsured and I said no, but do you have proof I didn't? She said "well you have to prove you did and I have nothing and you have nothing." I said I have nothing because YOUR SYSTEM kicked me out when I went to put the statement of non-use on it saying it had one on it already. She said well your total is 129.50. I said I want to speak with the supervisor in charge. She said fine, go sit out in the waiting room.

20 minutes later the supervisor lady comes out and is real nice but basically says the same thing the first lady said. But I told her my proof of a statement of non use is YOUR lack of violating me for no insurance for the first 10 months of last year. If I hadn't had insurance on the truck you would have had me pinged for a HUGE violation penalty had I not had a SONU to cover the truck not being insured. I think that got her thinking. She printed a bunch of paperwork, told me it would take a little while but she was going to get to the bottom of this. She went into her office and was back there about 20 minutes or so. She came back and didn't say anything, but started typing stuff into the computer. After a while she handed me a piece of paper that basically said "violation cleared" and handed me back everything and said I was good to go. She said we were able to prove you had a SONU on the truck during the cancellation period. She recommended I print my SONU from offline whenever I do one so this won't happen in the future.

So I got out of there wasting 2 hours of my time but it didn't cost me anything. Had I just given in I'd have walked out 130 dollars poorer and KNEW I was right.

The reason we have to do a SONU is so you can keep the plate, otherwise every time you cancel insurance on the truck you must give up the plate. Well then to get insurance back you have to go get another plate which is way too much bullshit. So when you cancel you just go on the DMV website, fill out a SONU and submit it. You're done. You're saying I'm not using this vehicle on the road. So when your insurance shows it's cancelled they can run in, see the SONU on the computer, and you don't get a violation. But this time due to the time lapse of State Farm submitting to the DMV that i had reinstated insurance on the truck and when I went to put the new SONU back on, it said it had one already and kicked me out. But a few days later they got the info from state farm and saw I had put insurance on and taken it back off without a new SONU to cover it. That's where the violation came in. But they found the proof that I wasn't lying.
 
$1000 a year just liability on a truck? Dayum. I pay $1200 a year, full coverage including comp. 2001 Toy Tundra 4x, 2003 F350 4x and a classic Anniversary Z06 2003 Corvette.
 

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