No, to the best of our knowledge the state of Delaware does not allow a 15 day gap or lapse in auto insurance in which to find other insurance or reinstate your previous insurance policy.

While other types of insurance, such as a health policy, may have grace periods for paying or for allowing finding a new policy car insurance usually does not.

The DE Department of Insurance (DOI) states that an insurance company can generally only cancel your policy if you do not pay your premiums, if you lose your license or if you do not report something you should have, such as a driving violation when you applied for insurance or a change in your insurance status, such as purchasing a new car and not reporting it to your insurance company.

An insurance company does have the ability to not renew your insurance, as a result of violations or accidents or for other reasons. The Department of Insurance states that if you do lose your auto insurance, act quickly to become insured. Do not drive without insurance because there are penalties.

The Delaware DMV receives notices from insurance companies when insurance has cancelled. As a result, you may be audited to provide proof of valid liability insurance from the date of cancellation. If it is determined that you were uninsured the penalties are:

• $100 per vehicle for being uninsured from 1-30 days
• An additional $5 per vehicle for each day after the 30 days or until tags/registration are surrendered, insurance is obtained or the registration tag expires

If you are driving a vehicle while not having the proper insurance in DE, upon conviction, you will be fined not less than $1500 for the first offense and $3000 for each subsequent offense occurring within 3 years of a former offense. Driving license and/or privileges will also be suspended for 6 months.

So while we are unaware of any 15 day period that the state of Delaware has for a motorist to get a new car insurance policy or get their cancel policy reinstated you can check with the DE DOI to see if this grace period for a lapse in insurance does exist.