Calif. DMV Hit with Insurers’ Lawsuit

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) was hit with a lawsuit May 22 by a number of insurance associations wishing to halt a fee hike that would reportedly double the price for motor vehicle reports.

Filed in Sacramento Superior Court by the Personal Insurance Federation of California (PIFC), the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII), the American Insurance Associations (AIA), the Alliance of American Insurers (AAI) and the Association of California Insurance Companies (ACIC), the lawsuit is attempting to halt the proposed $4 fee the DMV is seeking to institute on June 1.

Just a month ago, the DMV sought and filed for an emergency adoption of the fee hike, claiming the fee had not been raised in over a decade.

Nicole Mahrt, Director of Public Affairs/Western Region for AIA, told Insurance Journal, “We think the Department is illegally taxing the industry. The entire industry feels it is important we be able to access these records as part of Prop. 103. A 1997 audit by the state auditor documented the costs for the DMV to make this information available is actually $.50. Recent information we obtained through a public records act showed that it actually costs the Department $.13 to access these records.”

No date for a hearing on the filing has been instituted.