Discovered today my license has been suspended for past 1+ year!?! NOT MY FAULT!!!

My question involves a driver's license issued by the State of: Indiana

Ok, so I haven't gotten any tickets or warnings since 3/17/09. I logged on to the IN BMV website today to try and get a copy of my driving record because I am shopping around online to try and find cheaper car insurance and one of the things they ask you is all the violations you've had in the past 5 years, etc. and I wanted to make sure I had my record so I was entering in accurate information. While on the BMV site, I stumble upon the "View your current notices" link, so I click it, and come upon a Suspension Notice!!!

The notice was dated on 4/17/09 (exactly a month after I got my last tickets) and was addressed to an outdated address. The address on it was addressed to the address I lived at approx. 6 months before I got those tickets on 3/17/09. The notice goes on to say that if I go to a Driver's Ed course or take a Driver's Ed course & test online by 7/19/09 then my license would not get suspended.

The whole thing is, I NEVER EVER got this notice in the mail, NEVER EVER heard about this!! On top of that, my auto insurance was never notified of this, because obviously if they were they wouldn't have been able to insure me for the past 14+ months!! So as of this morning this is the FIRST time I have learned that I have been driving with a suspended license for 14+ months!

I notified my insurance agent and he couldn't believe it either and he told me to contact the BMV and see what I need to do to get my license reinstated and inform my agent of the "Form/Form #" of that.

What is going to happen??! I do not want to go to jail!! I can't afford to be without a vehicle/license!!! Has this ever happened to anyone?! Hopefully I just pay a fine (which is probably OUTRAGEOUS I'm sure, but I'd still do it in a heartbeat) and get it over with??

All because I didn't get a piece of ****ING MAIL ?!?!?!?!?!!!?!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

back up a bit:

the ticket you received on 3/17/09; did you take care of it (pay it, fight it, whatever)?

ya I paid them within the allotted month's time span

any idea what the suspension notice was for then?

cause it said I had 2 tickets in the past 12 months. Prolly because I got 2 tickets on 3/17/09, one for speeding and one for unsafe lane movement or something like that.

But I swear I've gotten 2 in a 12 month span before and didn't get a susp. notice before...

jlviper146 said:

But I swear I've gotten 2 in a 12 month span before and didn't get a susp. notice before...

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what happened in the past does not mean what happened this time is incorrect. Unless they were identical tickets, there might have been differing points associated with each ticket that put you over some stated limit.




One more question; was the address on your license correct at the time of receiving the tickets, if you moved after receiving the tickets, how long after recieving the tickets did you move, and when did you change the address on your license.

I think the address on my license at the time I got my tickets was my previous address cause I remember the cop asking me where I was headed and I told him home and gave him my current address. He informed me I was supposed to get a new license within a month after I moved to update the address, which I never knew.

Regardless, why didn't the notice get forwarded? Its mail just like any other mail and all my other mail always got forwarded with no problems......

First, I think you should own up to the fact, that the current problem IS your fault, as opposed to what your title says it ISN'T your fault. You were speeding and got the tickets, you failed to notify BMV of your address change in timely manner, and you failed to followup to ensure all remnants of the original ticketing situation were completely taken care of and resolved. Doesn't do any good to try and shift blame elsewhere.

So focus your efforts w/the BMV on whatever it takes to get your license back. You won't find a lot of sympathy that anybody owes you anything because you claim you never were notified. If they sent the notice out to the address of record, who knows what might have happened to it. I'm sure they've heard thousands of excuses.

Focus on the go forward plan, and learn from mistakes.

well if I can't blame the BMV i'm certainly blaming the USPS......why wouldn't it have been forwarded like any other piece of United States Mail**********************************************************************......can't blame me entirely

jlviper146 said:

well if I can't blame the BMV i'm certainly blaming the USPS......why wouldn't it have been forwarded like any other piece of United States Mail**********************************************************************......can't blame me entirely

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certain mail is specifically not forwarded. You would have to speak with the USPS and the DMV to determine if this particular mailing was specified to not be forwarded. In a legal filing, or at least the DMV's administrative equal, I suspect it will not be forwarded. The address on your license is considered to be legally dependable.