What do you think of this idea – Your car is an old beater and worthless. If you wreck it in a car accident, it doesn’t matter to you because it’s worthless anyway. It’s not even worth getting it insured because insurance wouldn’t even bother fixing the car if it gets into an accident. Good idea or not?
Bad idea!!!
First off, you’re going to be charged with Operate Motor Vehicle – No Insurance, a charge from the Ontario provincial Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act CAIA. That’s a major charge.
Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act
Here’s the wording for the charge of Operate Motor Vehicle – No Insurance under Ontario’s act:
Every owner or lessee of a motor vehicle who,
(a) contravenes subsection (1) of this section or subsection 13 (11); or
(b) surrenders an insurance card for inspection to a police officer, when requested to do so, purporting to show that the motor vehicle is insured under a contract of automobile insurance when the motor vehicle is not so insured,
is guilty of an offence and is liable on a first conviction to a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $25,000 and on a subsequent conviction to a fine of not less than $10,000 and not more than $50,000 and, in addition, his or her driver’s license may be suspended for a period of not more than one year.
Those are some pretty big fines, wouldn’t you say? Now it doesn’t really matter if your car is a beater and not “worth it” to insure. You’d be doing something illegal. Aside from that, the fines on their own should be deterrent enough.
But it gets worse
The point of mandatory insurance isn’t to repair the damages on your own car. It’s to compensate others for the big damages that you cause. What’s the biggest damage you can cause with a car? It’s injuries or death to others. Imagine if you were to cause catastrophic injuries or death in an accident… You think you’d be sued for that? Of course you would. And, if you don’t have insurance, you’d be paying for that for the rest of your life.
Still worth it to drive without insurance? Obviously not.
Car insurance quotes
Of course, if you’ve already been charged with Operate Motor Vehicle – No Insurance, you can’t change the past. We can still quote you for car insurance. And, we try to get you a cheap rate, even though insurance companies consider the charge to be a major conviction. Call us for a quote. We won’t judge your past.
