Changes to Vehicle Registration and Driver Licence Reminders in Alberta

Forgetting to renew your vehicle registration will not be something that you have to worry about any longer. There are new changes to this process.

Many Albertans are recently surprised to know that there will no longer be vehicle registration or notice of driver’s licence expiry reminders sent out in the mail. These reminders are now sent via electronic reminders. This news was sent out to the media in March, 2016 effective in April, 2016. Although this notice was sent out many months ago through an awareness campaign, many Albertans are still not aware of this process.

There are a few main reasons why the province moved in this process:

• Save tax payers money
• Mail out system is a dated practice
• More convenient
• Up to today’s technology

How does this affect your vehicle insurance?

It is against the law in the province of Alberta to drive your vehicle without a valid driver’s licence or vehicle registration.

If you do not have a valid driver license or a valid vehicle registration, your insurance is not legitimate. This could result in no coverage by your insurance provider if you were in an accident, stolen vehicle or vandalized or any other reason you would need to make an insurance claim.

Protect yourself and others

To make sure your vehicle insurance is in place, make sure you sign up for electronic registration renewal reminders by going to Alberta’s online registry service. From there, you will need to fill out some criteria through an online form.

If you are having difficulty with this process, you can go to your local registry agent in the office and an agent will aid in this set up. You will need to bring your current vehicle registration, licence plate number, proof of car insurance from your insurance provider and a credit card.

A few things to know about this new mandatory change is, motorists with disabilities will still receive mail out reminders and senior citizens 70 years and older will receive a mail out reminders until next April, 2017. After April 2017, seniors will not be receiving these mail out reminders.

Everyone at Beneficial Insurance Solutions wanted to let you all know about this important change and if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us