Category Archives: Car Insurance

How Can You Get Car Insurance After A DUI?

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No matter how expensive your insurance policies are, they cannot save you from paying fines due to traffic offenses such as speeding, careless driving, or DUI (Driving under Influence). A DUI ticket is considered a major offense since you put your life and everybody else’s into risk deliberately. You need to pay high fines depending on how serious the offense is. In case you are at fault in an accident when you are driving under influence of alcohol, you may get your driver license and vehicle registration suspended. Car insurance companies usually check your driving records before they can determine the next step. Insurers will consider the severity of the offense, your risk as driver, and economic demographics before they raise your premium rate, transfer you to high-risk class, or simply cancel your policy. Insurers will use those variables in different ways; some companies rank DUI a less of a risk compared to at-fault accident.

Providing coverage to high-risk driver is as well a risky business for insurer. They consider you a high-risk driver with a tendency to get involved or cause accidents. Once your policy is cancelled, you will need to find a new insurer which does provide high risk policy. Once again, depending on how serious the DUI is, you probably can still get cheap auto insurance quotes. A DUI at low speed as your drive from bar located not very far from your home will affect the driving record differently with a fatal accident at high speed while you are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

How to get car insurance after my policy is cancelled?

There are some possible scenarios concerning your DUI ticket. Being pulled over and signing tickets are not admission of guilt. Please put in mind that you can always contest the charge in court at a later date. You can call an independent insurance agent to discuss how it will affect your insurance policy or rates. If your current insurance company cannot provide high-risk policy, it is best to find a new insurer who can. Nevertheless, you must try to fight the charge to get rid of the offense from driving record; clean records make it easier to find new insurer. Some considerations to put into account before trying to get insured again are as follows.

1. This is not going to be an easy process

As previously mentioned, some insurance companies cannot afford providing coverage for high-risk driver; this means you have very limited options. If you are proven guilty of a DUI offense, some big names in insurance industries may not even give you coverage for at least three years because DUI ticket will stay on your record for at least three years too. Before the ticket is removed, it will affect your car insurance estimate.

2. Contest the charge if possible

If the DUI offense is only considered a misdemeanor, not a felony, a good attorney will be able to reduce or even completely drop the charge so you can come out clean. The ticket will not appear on your record, and you can easily find a new insurer. Clean record is an indicator that you are a safe-driver or the preferred class of insurance customer. It should be easy for you to get affordable car insurance from any company. When the charge is reduced, the record is likely to appear on the record anyway. As a consequence, you will pay less expensive fines, but your insurance rates will likely to increase.

3. Accept the consequences and take punitive actions appropriately

The most common restitution is paying fines or conducting community services. There are plenty of community services such as diversion program, taking driving courses, etc. DUI ticket is an addition of the actual reason you are pulled over by an officer, so you have to pay fines for every offense accordingly. You need to know about SR-22 form as well. SR-22 is a form used as a proof of insurance. It is issued by your insurance company to verify that you are indeed insured. SR-22 is only required in DUI case, your license gets suspended due to any reason, you are at fault in accidents, or you are caught driving without insurance.

Young Drivers Car Insurance Can Cost a Fortune

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Everyone worries about having enough money for their child’s education but they tend to forget about another huge expense, young drivers’ car insurance. If you have a baby girl, you can wait a little to start your fund, but if your baby’s a boy, start saving money for that first policy the minute you get home from the hospital.

Of course, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration on the cost of young drivers’ insurance, but if you’re a parent with a new teen driver, you probably may think it’s pretty accurate.

Young drivers simply pay more for their insurance.

There’s a reason they pay more. They have less experience on the road, statistic show they have more accidents and they have limited histories driving so insurance companies are looking at an unknown risk factor also.

If you’ve ridden with your child at the wheel, you may decide that no matter what the insurance company charges, it’s a bargain price. That’s where you might be wrong. You can get cheap young drivers’ car insurance if you shop online for quotes at several different sites.

Since your young driver is on the family policy, you’ll have to secure quotes for your family car insurance. If you carve out the high priced child and insure them through another company, your company will still charge you because they still see him as a driver in the household.

Most sites offer multiple quotes and you might find that in addition to saving money on the insurance for your young driver, you dramatically reduce the cost of insuring your other vehicles.

See if you can find discounts for your new driver. Often companies offer discounts for good students, additional savings if your child took a driver’s education course and multiple car discounts. You may also have a discount if you carry other types of insurance with the company, such as life or health insurance.

Just because it’s expensive, you might be tempted to reduce the amount of coverage. If your child’s car has a loan, you must carry full coverage. Don’t even consider selecting the state’s minimum liability for coverage. Most state’s minimums barely cover a visit to an emergency room, let alone the cost of a hospital stay.

The best way to keep your insurance rates lower when you have a young driver, besides comparing rates is to put specific rules in place for your child’s protection. For their first year of driving, don’t allow your child to become the crowd’s Taxi Cab. A vehicle filled with talking, rambunctious teenagers detracts from the driver’s focus on the road. Minimize the potential danger by limiting the taxi service they perform. Get your son or daughter a hand’s free headset for their cell phone. Set curfews for your child, when they drive. Late night drives mean sleepy drivers and an accident waiting to occur.

You’ll save your family budget from certain death when you start shopping for comparison rates. You’ll be happy you shopped.