My license was suspended by Ohio for a random insurance check by mail. The problem was that I sold the vehicle, plus I didn’t live in Ohio anymore. This is known as an Ohio Random Selection Suspension.
First I think that sending a letter in the mail is stupid. Send me an email and I’ll respond quicker.
So here’s what happened with the Ohio Random Selection Suspension.
I called to get insurance on a car that I bought here in Florida. When I talked to the insurance company they had informed me that my license was suspended. My first reaction was “What the hell, I have a clean driving record.”
After I got off the phone with the insurance company I looked up my driving record online for free. I saw that my license was suspended by the Ohio BMV for a random insurance check. They do it by mail. Old school. If I would have gotten an email, I could have prevented the suspension.
Well, 60 days went by and Ohio BMV suspended my license for not responding to the letter.
First off all, I don’t live in Ohio, second I don’t own the car they were checking on. A simple check of the VIN number of the vehicle would have shown that but……….NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. With this random selection law, you are guilty and convicted before you get a chance to prove you are innocent…even if you live out of state.
I live in Florida. I haven’t live in Ohio in almost 3 years. I had my mail forwarded from my old address to my current address in Florida. Mail is only forwarded for a year. So I stopped getting my mail from Ohio.
So how did I beat the suspension and get the entry wiped off my record completely?
I did what the Ohio BMV should have done: Do a VIN number search.
Luckily I knew the person that I sold my car to. See when Ohio BMV sent the random insurance check letter, they were asking if a specific vehicle that I owned was insured.
So, I tracked down the owner and a third owner. I didn’t have a copy of the title because I sold the car and who copies a title anyway?
What I did was whip up a bill of sale, had the guy I sold it to sign it and attest he bought the car. I had it notarized. It was 100% legal.
As far as the third owner of the car, she was able to give me a copy of her registration that showed she owned the car during the time period that the Ohio BMV was inquiring about.
Then I sent them a bunch of documents like electric bills, leases, and even employment documents.
The kicker was that I was able to search for the VIN number of the vehicle by calling the insurance company and even printed that up.
I called and emailed the Ohio BMV to find out where I send all these documents. After getting an email response, they said to fax it to them. I was thinking about mailing it certified so I know that they would get it. But I decided to Fax it first to see how fast the response was on their decision to live my suspension.
10 minutes after faxing 10 documents and a letter, I got a call from the Ohio BMV that they lifted my suspension, deleted any record of it and would send me a letter in the mail to my CURRENT ADDRESS IN FLORIDA as proof.
Listen to their response here:
However I do want to thank Jan from the BMV for acting quickly on this. She was super nice. Although I don’t like the laws in Ohio that convict you before you get a chance to prove you are innocent, I do not have any grudges against the employees of the State of Ohio. I used to work for ODOT when I was in College. So no personal attacks. It’s against the system…not the individual.
Have you gotten suspended for the Ohio BMV random insurance check? Leave a comment below. Share your story.
