One of the most time-consuming activities of moving is notifying everyone of your address change. The average household has to notify between 15-20 businesses and organizations of their move. Changing your address on your driver’s license is one of the activities that comes to mind, but what if you decide not to do it? Doesn’t forwarding your mail take care of these things? The short answer is no.
In most states and provinces, there are laws and implications for failing to notify the appropriate organizations of your new address.
Consider Michelle, a Toronto resident, who moved four months ago, but hasn’t updated her driver’s license and vehicle registration. She was recently pulled over at a roadside check and issued two tickets (for $85 each) for failing to notify the province of Ontario of her change of address on her driver’s license and vehicle registration. If you live in Ontario, you must, by law, notify the Ministry of Transportation within 6 days of your move. The process is straight forward and can be done online through Service Ontario. Your updated license card will be mailed to you and you’ll be given an online confirmation that you can keep with you as proof in the meantime.
Also, when you update the address on the drivers license, the address of any vehicle plates attached to that license are also updated. However, a new printed ownership with an updated address is not issued unless you go to a Service Ontario outlet and pick up a new ownership copy. Getting your updated ownership is free, unless you’ve lost your previous copy (in which case you’re looking at a $14 fee).
While the fines are not outrageous and mostly don’t carry any demerit points, they surely add up and show up on your driver’s record and insurance abstract, which may end up costing you a considerable sum of money down the road.
MoveSnap‘s address change functionality reminds you of due dates of important tasks, such as updating your driver’s license and registration, saving you money and hassles down the road.
