To help address the problem of uninsured motorists, the 1995 Legislature directed the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) to conduct a pilot program in three counties. This pilot program authorized licensed recovery agents to remove the license plates from vehicles whose owners had not maintained required insurance. The 1999 Legislature amended the law to allow the program to be expanded if certain conditions were met. One of these conditions was that OPPAGA verify that the error rate for valid license plates seized by recovery agents was 2% or less.
A department study conducted in October 2000 determined that the error rate for seized license plates was 34.8%. We reviewed the study's methodology and department data, and concluded that the department's error rate estimate is reasonable. Consequently, the criteria for expanding the pilot program have not been met. The Legislature should abolish the pilot program because of the consistently high error rate, the department's belief that it will be unable to reduce the error rate to the level required by law, and the inconvenience to drivers whose plates are seized in error.

Department Has Taken Steps to Improve the Detection of Uninsured Motorists
Report 04-52 August 2004
Progress Report: Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Addresses Most Driver License Recommendations
Report 02-52 October 2002
Progress Report: Legislature Ends Vehicle License Plate Seizure Pilot Program Due to Error Rate, Driver Inconvenience
Report 02-35 June 2002
Follow-Up Report on the Uninsured Motorist Program Administered by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
Report 97-20 December 1997

Copies of this report in print or alternate accessible format may be obtained by email OPPAGA@oppaga.fl.gov, telephone (850) 488-0021, or mail 111 W. Madison St., Room 312 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1475.