Rhode Island Database Verifies Automobile Insurance coverage of Drivers

What you want to know:

• Rhode Island will track uninsured drivers via a database called the Rhode Island Insurance Verification Technique (RIIIVS).


• Uninsured drivers must get coverage now or they could have their license cancelled when the database is totally functional.


• Drivers with insurance coverage should verify on the internet to confirm that the DMV has their appropriate address. Address-related errors could imply a driver with coverage gets mistakenly flagged as a driver with out coverage.

Rhode Island is a step closer to kicking off an automated program to recognize uninsured drivers in the state.

Last year, lawmakers there passed a law to develop the Rhode Island Insurance coverage Verification Technique (RIIIVS). The law went into impact this month, and insurers throughout the state are submitting drivers’ policy details.

The database will use that policy info and several other pieces of driving info supplied by the Division of Motor Automobiles (DMV), such as partial VINs to dates of birth, to “find matches of insurance coverage policies to vehicles,” according to Anthony Silva, administrator for the DMV.

Correct Address Info is Critical

Unmatched driver info in RIIIVS will mean that driver gets notified that they’re lacking coverage.

According to the law passed last year, the notification process is:

• If the database finds a auto owner has been lacking coverage for at least 3 months, he or she will get a first notice.


• That notice will tell the vehicle owner he or she has 15 days to supply proof of coverage.


• A second notice follows if no proof of coverage is supplied, allowing another 15 days to supply proof of coverage.


• If proof of coverage nevertheless hasn’t been supplied, the DMV cancels the automobile owner’s license and registration.


• To reinstate a license and registration, a driver has to provide proof of coverage and pay a $ 250 charge (added fines and penalties could apply).

Since matching is so crucial to RIIIVS, “it’s vital that [the DMV] has your appropriate address on file as notices go to the address on record,” according to Debbie Wealthy, a public information officer with the DMV.

Rhode Island drivers can request an address modify with the DMV online.

Insurers Have November Deadline to Regularly Submit Policy Info

In a bulletin, state insurance regulators laid out what vehicle insurers in Rhode Island have to do to register with the technique and submit policy info about drivers they cover.

The law that produced RIIIVS went into effect on July 1, but full-on use of the database will not begin till later so that “insurance companies [have] enough time to comply with the law.” According to the bulletin, insurers need to commence submitting policy information regularly by November.

The Ocean State has 1 of the highest statewide prices of uninsured drivers in the U.S., with more than 17.5 percent of drivers there lacking Rhode Island auto insurance, according to the Insurance Investigation Council (IRC).

“The ultimate finish outcome must be fewer uninsured motorists and that must translate into policy savings for all the other motorists on the road who are abiding by the mandatory auto insurance law,” Rep. Brian Kennedy (D-Hopkinton) said in a statement issued following the legislation he sponsored was signed into law.

Rhode Island Database Verifies Automobile Insurance coverage of Drivers