Many uninsured drivers may soon have registrations canceled.

Time is running out for uninsured motorists.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles will begin notifying some drivers without auto insurance today that their registration has been canceled.

The cancellations follow warning letters sent last month to more than 13,000 registered owners in the central San Joaquin Valley and 314,000 in the state, according to the DMV.

“What we are trying to do is to encourage people to keep current insurance,” said Mike Miller, a spokesman for the DMV. “Pay now or pay a lot more later.”

The letters are being sent under a state law that requires insurers to notify the DMV when registered owners don’t keep their insurance policies current.

The law was written by former state Sen. Jackie Speier and signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2004. It took two years to get the system coordinated between the DMV and insurers, said Gary Gartner of the state Department of Insurance.

The law ends a loophole in California’s mandatory auto insurance law.

Previously, drivers could buy insurance, register their vehicles and then cancel the policy, Miller said.

The notices going out today are only the first flurry of letters the DMV will likely send: A recent estimate by the Department of Insurance reported that nearly 3.5 million vehicles were without insurance in the state, more than 150,000 of those in the Central Valley.

Speier intended the law to result in lower vehicle insurance premiums for drivers with insurance.

About 20% of the average insurance bill goes to uninsured motorist coverage, according to Karen Zarsadiaz of the Insurance Information Network of California, an industry group.

Since 2001, 1.4 million drivers in California have been convicted of driving without insurance and 78,000 drivers have been convicted of failing to have liability insurance when involved in a collision, the DMV says.

Letters of warning of the new law went out to motorists on Nov. 15, said Miller, of the DMV. People with a new or transferred vehicle get a notice if they have not purchased insurance in 30 days.

If a policy is canceled, the notice is sent 45 days after the cancellation.

Drivers can expect a fix-it ticket if they are stopped by a police officer and the vehicle registration has been expired for less than six months. If it has been out of date for longer than that, the car can be impounded, said Fresno police traffic Sgt. Eric Eide.

“It’s so unfair to everybody else who has to carry uninsured motorist insurance,” he said.

The penalties can become more severe. Fines can be $1,000, and driver’s licenses can also be suspended for a year, Miller said.

The change could mean trouble for some low-income drivers.

But there is good news for those who live in Fresno County — they may be eligible for a low-cost state supported insurance plan.

Those who live in other Central Valley counties won’t have that option yet, but the Department of Insurance eventually hopes to make the program available statewide.

“Sometimes for people it’s an economic reality between buying insurance and putting food on the table,” said Zarsadiaz of the Insurance Information Network.

She noted, however, that drivers who qualify can get a “bare bones” policy, such as the kind endorsed by the DMV, that can be purchased for less than $300 in Fresno County.

The driver must have a good driving record and meet low-income requirements to be eligible.

The policy would give a driver $20,000 in liability coverage, $10,000 per individual and $3,000 for property damage.

While that doesn’t provide a lot of protection, it’s “only a little bit more to actually get real coverage,” Zarsadiaz said.

“You just have to talk to an agent.”

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