Wyo. Code R. 044-0002-14
General Agency, Board or Commission Rules
Chapter 14: Cancellation & Nonrenewal of Automobile Liability Policies
Effective Date: 12/31/1996 to 09/16/2025
Rule Type: Superceded Rules & Regulations
Reference Number: 044.0002.14.12311996
These rules are promulgated by the Insurance Commissioner pursuant to Sections 26-2-109, 26-2-110, 26-3-120, 26-13-116, and 16-3-101 to 16-3-115, W.S. 1977 as amended.
As used in this act:
(a) 'Policy' means any automobile policy providing automobile liability coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, automobile medical payments coverage or automobile physical damage coverage, which is delivered or issued for delivery in this state, under the motor vehicles therein designated, and are of the following types only;
(i) A motor vehicle of the private passenger or the station wagon type, which is not used as a public or livery conveyance nor rented to others; or
(ii) Any four-wheeled vehicle of the pickup, panel or sedan delivery type not used in the occupation, profession or business of the policyholder, other than farming or ranching, nor used as a public or livery conveyance nor rented to others; or
(iii) Any other four-wheel motor vehicle with a gross weight not exceeding 9,000 pounds, which is not used in the occupation, profession or business of the policyholder, other than farming or ranching, nor used as a public or livery conveyance nor rented to others; or
(iv) Motorcycles other than those used for commercial purposes; provided that these rules shall not apply:
(A) To any policy which has been in effect less than 60 days at the time notice of cancellation is mailed or delivered by the insurer unless it is a renewal policy;
(B) To any policy issued under an automobile assigned risk plan or Wyoming automobile insurance plan;
(C) To any policy insuring motor vehicles under commercial fleet plans;
(D) To any policy covering the operation of a garage, automobile sale agency, repair shop, service station or public parking place;
(E) To any policy providing insurance only on an excess basis;
(F) To any other contract providing insurance to such policyholder even though such contract may incidentally provide insurance with respect to such motor vehicles.
(b) “Renewal” or “to renew” means the issuance and delivery by an insurer of a policy effective at the end of the policy period of a policy previously issued and delivered by the same insurer to the same policyholder, or the issuance and delivery of a certificate or notice extending a policy beyond its policy period or term; provided that any policy with a policy period or term of less than six months shall for the purpose of these rules be considered as if written for a policy period or term of six months; and any policy written for a term longer than one year or any policy with no fixed expiration date shall for the purpose of this act be considered as if written for successive policy periods or terms of one year.
(c) “Nonpayment of premium” means failure of the policyholder to discharge when due any of his obligations in connection with the payment of premium on a policy or any installment of such premium, whether the premium is payable directly to the insurer or its agent or indirectly under any premium finance plan or extension of credit.
(a) No insurer shall exercise its right to cancel a policy except for the following reasons:
(i) Nonpayment of premium;
(ii) The driver’s license or motor vehicle registration of any one operator residing in the policyholder’s household (including all insureds, named or otherwise) or who customarily operates a motor vehicle insured under the policy has been under suspension or revocation during the policy period. The insurer may cancel coverage only to such operator by issuing an endorsement to the policy excluding coverage thereunder to such operator notwithstanding any omnibus clause contained in the policy. Refusal of such restrictive endorsement by said policyholder shall constitute grounds for cancellation of the policy. Modification of automobile physical damage coverage by applying a deductible amount not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00) shall not be deemed a cancellation.
(iii) Fraud on the part of the applicant in filing out the application.
(iv) For any reason determined appropriate by the insurance commissioner after a hearing thereon, other than specified in paragraphs (i), (ii), or (iii), such hearing shall be held upon petition of the insurer within 15 days after receipt of said petition by the insurance commissioner, or within 15 days after notice to the policyholder served in accordance with Rule 4 of the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure, whichever is later.
No insurer shall exercise its right to cancel a policy unless a written notice of cancellation is mailed or delivered to the last known address of the policyholder at least 20 days prior to the effective date of cancellation, except that when cancellation is for nonpayment of premium, the notice shall be mailed or delivered to the policyholder at the address shown in the policy at least 10 days prior to the effective date of cancellation.
(a) No insurer shall refuse to renew a policy unless a written notice of nonrenewal is mailed or delivered to the policyholder, at least 30 days prior to the expiration date of the policy.
(b) This section shall not apply:
(i) In case of nonpayment of premium for the expiring policy; (ii) If the policyholder fails to pay the premium as required by the insurer for renewal.
(a) When automobile liability coverage is either canceled or nonrenewed by an insurer, the insurer shall notify the policyholder of his possible eligibility for automobile insurance through the automobile assigned risk plan or Wyoming automobile insurance plan. The notification shall accompany or be included in the notice of cancellation or nonrenewal by these rules. (b) This section shall not apply to cancellation or nonrenewal for nonpayment of premium.
Proof of mailing shall be by affidavit of the person so mailing to the last known address of the policyholder, except that cancellation under Section 3(a)(ii) or 3(a)(iv) shall be by affidavit of delivery by the person so making that delivery, or by U.S. mails “return receipt requested”. If a return receipt is requested but is returned to the sender marked “refused” or with words of similar character, the sender shall be deemed as having complied with this section.
Notwithstanding the failure of an insurer to comply with these rules, termination of any coverage either by cancellation or nonrenewal shall be effective on the effective date of any other liability policy providing substantially similar coverage to the policyholder on the same motor vehicle or any replacement thereof.
These regulations shall become effective immediately upon filing with the Secretary of State. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPAL REASONS
Amendments to Chapter 15.1 of Wyoming Insurance Department Regulation
Cancellation And Nonrenewal of Automobile Liability Policies
Amendments to this Chapter are to change the chapter numbering and the chapter pagination and to renumber Chapter 15.1 to Chapter 14. No Chapter 14 is presently designated in the Wyoming Insurance Department Regulations.
A Chapter designation with a “dot-number” (15.1) is not acceptable to the in-state computer programs. For that reason, the present Chapter 15.1 will be redesignated Chapter 14. A chapter number 14 does not presently exist in the regulations for the Wyoming Insurance Department. The Chapter numbers are presently . . . 13, 14.1, 15, 15.1, . . ., etc.
The Chapter will be designated by the Arabic number symbol “14.” Pagination of the chapter will be amended from the present continuous and sequential numbering from chapter-to-chapter, to chapter-specific numbering. As an example, each page will be designated first by a chapter number and then page number, as in 14-1, 14-2, 14-3, etc. Amending the method by which the pages are numbered will allow for simpler amendments in the future, and for easier reader identification of the chapter and pages with which they are concerned.