Just got a call from a police officer who has a gentleman pulled over. The officer was looking at the registration card the driver provided and in the police computer connected to the Oregon DMV and both sources clearly show the driver to be the registered owner. The problem is the owner of the vehicle had purchased a NON-OWNER POLICY. It doesn't cover a car owned by the insured. A non-owner policy only covers the driver while driving other people's cars on a secondary basis. It is not meant to be a BROAD FORM POLICY available in some states which covers the driver in ANY car, owned or not. And the officer stated that the driver had a suspended license. Both the suspended license and the uninsured vehicles are cause for the arresting officer to have his car towed and to confiscate the license.

If you are on SR22 Non-owner policy and own a car, convert the policy IMMEDIATELY to an OWNER-OPERATOR policy. Put the car on the policy! And, if you are required to carry SR22 on a policy, please check periodically with the Oregon DMV to be sure your license is not suspended. It could be they threw out his SR22 on his Non-owner Policy as invalid because the DMV saw that he owned a car. There may be other reasons for the suspension such as unpaid fines or child support, unpaid reinstatement fees and additional driving while suspended tickets while on hardship permit.

If you are required to submit an SR22 and you don't turn one in, your license will be suspended. The Oregon DMV sends out a letter once they are notified by the court that you were convicted of a certain ticket needing SR22. The first letter is a warning that you need one by a certain date. If you fail to meet the requirement by that date the DMV will send a very lengthy letter giving you exactly 30 days to turn in the SR22 certificate. The letter will state the exact date when you license will be suspended. Be careful because the date on the letter is set at 12:01 am. That means if you reached the date of suspension, it's already too late. You've got to turn one in before that date. Also note that the Oregon DMV offices close often for holidays, weekend and furlough days.

Make sure the Oregon DMV has on file your most current address so you get these letters. Failure to receive the letters is no reason to expect your license won't be suspended. And, driving while suspended is one of the most serious infractions you can get in Oregon. A driving while suspended ticket carries a hefty fine and can get your car impounded. The costs really add up. Once you do have your license suspended and want to reinstate it you still must provide insurance for the full remaining SR22 requirement period and pay a fee ($75 at the time of this writing) to the Oregon DMV to reinstate your license.

The good news is, we can now fax or email an SR22 certificate to the DMV and they usually 'post it to the system' within one business day. Call us at 503-693-2852 for instructions on how to hand deliver an original SR22 certificate.