NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1979 SESSION

CHAPTER 1279

HOUSE BILL 1690

AN ACT TO AMEND G.S. 20-309 AND G.S. 20-311 RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION PLATE REVOCATION DUE TO TERMINATION OF LIABILITY INSURANCE.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 20-309 is hereby rewritten to read as follows:

"§ 20-309.  Financial responsibility prerequisite to registration; must be maintained throughout registration period. — (a) No self-propelled motor vehicle shall be registered in this State unless the owner at the time of registration has financial responsibility for the operation of such motor vehicle, as provided in this Article. The owner of each motor vehicle registered in this State shall maintain financial responsibility continuously throughout the period of registration.

(b)        Financial responsibility shall be a liability insurance policy or a financial security bond or a financial security deposit or by qualification as a self-insurer, as these terms are defined and described in Article 9A, Chapter 20 of the General Statutes of North Carolina, as amended.

(c)        When it is certified that financial responsibility is a liability insurance policy, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles may require that the owner produce records to prove the fact of such insurance, and failure to produce such records shall be prima facie evidence that no financial responsibility exists with regard to the vehicle concerned. It shall be the duty of insurance companies, upon request of the Division, to verify the accuracy of any owner's certification.

(d)        When liability insurance with regard to any motor vehicle is terminated by cancellation or failure to renew, or the owner's financial responsibility for the operation of any motor vehicle is otherwise terminated, the owner shall forthwith surrender the registration certificate and plates of the vehicle to the Division of Motor Vehicles unless financial responsibility is maintained in some other manner in compliance with this Article.

(e)        Upon termination by cancellation or otherwise of an insurance policy provided in subsection (d), the insurer shall notify the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles of such termination as directed by the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles in accordance with subsection (f) of this section. The Division of Motor Vehicles, upon receiving notice of cancellation or termination of an owner's financial responsibility as required by this Article, shall notify such owner of such cancellation or termination, and such owner shall, to retain the registration plate for the vehicle registered or required to be registered, within 15 days from date of notice given by the Division either:

(1)        certify to the Division that he has financial responsibility effective on or prior to the date of such termination, or

(2)        certify to the Division that he has financial responsibility effective on the date of certification and pay a fifteen dollar ($15.00) administrative fee for the cost of action taken.

Failure of the owner to certify that he has financial responsibility as herein required shall be prima facie evidence that no financial responsibility exists with regard to the vehicle concerned and, unless the owner's registration plate has been surrendered to the Division of Motor Vehicles by surrender to an agent or representative of the Division of Motor Vehicles designated by the Division of Motor Vehicles, or depositing the same in the United States mail, addressed to the Division of Motor Vehicles, Raleigh, North Carolina, the Division shall revoke the owner's registration plate for 60 days.

In no case shall any vehicle, the registration of which has been revoked for failure to have financial responsibility, be registered in the name of the registered owner, spouse, or any child of the spouse, or any child of such owner within less than 60 days after the date of receipt of the registration plate by the Division of Motor Vehicles, except that a spouse living separate and apart from the registered owner may register such vehicle immediately in such spouse's name. Provided, the revocation of the registration plate shall be rescinded by the Division of Motor Vehicles upon receipt of certification of current financial responsibility as required by this Article and payment of sixty dollars ($60.00) restoration fee. Any person, firm or corporation failing to give notice of termination shall be subject to a civil penalty of two hundred dollars ($200.00) to be assessed by the Commissioner of Insurance upon a finding by the Commissioner of Insurance that good cause is not shown for such failure to give notice of termination to the Division of Motor Vehicles.

(f)         The Commissioner shall administer and enforce the provisions of this Article and may make rules and regulations necessary for its administration and shall provide for hearings upon request of persons aggrieved by orders or acts of the Commissioner under the provisions of this Article."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 20-311 is hereby amended by adding the following proviso to the end thereof:

"Provided the revocation of the registration plate shall be rescinded by the Division of Motor Vehicles upon receipt of certification of current financial responsibility as required by this Article and payment of a sixty dollar ($60.00) restoration fee."

Sec. 3.  This act shall become effective January 1, 1981.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 25th day of June, 1980.