A senior insurance industry expert contended yesterday that after working for decades in the field, he had not yet heard of a company that would automatically renew a driver’s motor vehicle insurance policy.

Another insurance executive, who did not wish to be identified, told the Express that, according to the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, a driver could be charged for operating a vehicle without valid insurance as well as for driving a vehicle without a certificate of up-to-date insurance.

Section 4(8) of the Motor Vehicles Insurance Act Ch 48:51 states:

A policy shall be of no effect for the purposes of this Act unless and until there is issued by the insurer in favour of the person by whom the policy is effected a certificate (in this Act referred to as a ’certificate of insurance’) in duplicate in the prescribed form and containing such particulars of any conditions subject to which the policy is issued and of any other matters as may be prescribed, and different forms and different particulars may be prescribed in relation to different cases or circumstances.