Reader’s Question:

I know someone that got pulled over for the 4th time in ten years and she didn’t have car insurance. What will happen to her and will be the penalties she will be facing?

Arthur

Mobile, AL

The penalty for driving without insurance differ from state to state. In most states, your may will be impounded and car tag can be seized. Plus, some states impose heavy fines for those who operate a vehicle without car insurance. Limited states fine a fee of $150 to $500 for driving without car insurance.

The penalties can be far more serious if you get involved in an accident and do not have proper liability. You may be required to carry financial responsibility laws (SR22, SR22s, SR16) including having to pay for any damages or injuries out of your own pocket.

For every dollar you pay for auto insurance premium, a portion goes to those states that aren’t aggressive toward uninsured motorists.

Reader’s Question:

How do I find out how many points are on my driver’s license?

Vince

Kansas City, Missouri (MO)

Each state varies but generally though you can check how many points are on your license by getting a copy of your driving record or driving history. Most states would require a fee to be paid before they will provide you a copy of your driving record.

Some states will permit you to call into a special number to check out the points amount that your license number currently has attached to it. For instance in Missouri you can email or call to find out the number of points. Wisconsin and Arizona will also allow you to call a special number.

To find out the number of points you have on your driver’s license or other information that might be on your driving record, you may contact your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles or similar agency.

Reader’s Question:

I bought a car in my name in Santa Ana, California (CA), and I need insurance for it but my license has been suspended. Can I insure my vehicle to someone else’s name or, can I insure it with suspended license?

Matt

Santa Ana, CA

Even though your driver’s license is suspended, some insurance companies will permit you to insure your vehicle.

There are some insurance company that will allow it, but they will require you provide them proof of it’s reinstatement within 30 days from your policy’s inception date. Otherwise, they will cancel your policy.

There are also insurance providers that will permit someone else to insure your car in their name, even if that individual has no insurable interest in your car. Those carriers are limited and they do require the owner to be listed as a driver on the insurance policy. Under certain circumstances you may be listed on the policy, but you would not be included and not covered under the policy terms.

Question: How does one go about obtaining vehicle insurance for a 17 year old driver in Dallas, without paying an arm and a leg?

Comment: I think this is a super question to inquire about your teen driver. At 17 years of age this teenage driver can not legally enter a contract since they are not considered an adult. I would assume that most teenage drivers would be considered “safe” drivers they are still not old enough to sign the insurance contract.

I would also assume that most insurance companies would require a parent and or a legal gaurdian to sign the contract and to be financially responsible for the vehicle and the driver’s actions.

I would start off your investigation by making a few phone calls the local insurance carriers in your area and get their opinion on this question.

I really do not see why you could not get decent coverage for your teen driver, but a better question might be are you going to be able to afford this type of coverage?

You might also want to contact the Dallas car insurance bureau or DMV to ask them if there are any restrictions for obtaining Dallas auto insurance in your area or specific situation.

A reader today asks: How does one go about obtaining vehicle insurance for a beginner 17 year old driver in Georgia, without paying an arm and a leg?

I think this is a super question to inquire about your teen driver. At 17 years of age this teenage beginner driver, can’t legally enter a binding contract since they are not considered an adult. I would also guess that most teenage drivers would be considered “good” drivers they are still not old enough to sign on the dotted line of the contract.

I would also assume that most vehicle insurance agencies would also require a parent and or a legal gaurdian to sign the contract and to be financially responsible.

You might want to start off your investigation by making a few phone calls the local insurance carriers in your immediate area and get their opinion on this question.

But I really do not see why you couldn’t get coverage for your teen driver. A better question to ask my be are you going to be able to afford this type of coverage?

You might also want to contact the Atlanta GA car insurance bureau or DMV to ask them if there are any restrictions for obtaining car insurance in Georgia.

I was thinking about it after my last post, and I realized that I have another example of a type of accident that is almost always a one way thing. Like I said before, these sorts of accidents are pretty common, and when they happen there’s little to no hope for you to prove that the person who seems to be obviously at fault was not, and the person who seems to be obviously the victim was actually at fault. There are rare situations in which this is possible, but normally it is hard to prove.

The new example that I have is of a left turn accident. This means that a car making a left turn gets hit by a car turning straight. It is normally very difficult to prove that the car turning left was not at fault, because there are certain requirements and responsibilities placed on the car that is turning left.

What are the exceptions? There may be an exception if:

• the car that is coming straight is going at a particularly high speed. This is because, normally, a car can gauge whether or not they can go by noting how fast the car before them is going. If the car coming in the opposite direction suddenly speeds up when the car was partially across the intersection, then the car that was turning left is usually not liabile.
• the car that is coming straight has run a red light. This is consistent with the use of traffic violations committed by the other driver to prove that they are the at fault driver–make sure you get witnesses, pictures, statute number, and a police report in your favor for the easiest results.
• the car that is going left has to go slower or come to a stop for some reason that was not expected. This is a tough one, because the car turning left is not supposed to even start going until it can be sure that it can make it across the intersection safely, according to the rules of right of way. However, let’s say that a deer runs out into the street while the car is turning left, and so the car has to stop because it would normally be worse to hit the deer than to stop–you can’t run over a deer. The car going straight then runs into the left turning car. In this case, the negligence might be entirely on the car going straight, because it might have been going to fast, or it could be shared. It’s hard to give proof in situations like these (okay, the deer one might be easy, but in your typical situation it isn’t).

Knowing which type of accidents are car insurance claim givens is key to making the car insurance claim process easier for you. If you get into an accident like this and it is one of the exceptions to the rule, then you know right away that this is something that you have to be very careful about and document more.

Reader question:

Are there certain types of accidents for which you don’t have to go through all the car insurance claim hassle?

Beth

That’s a great question, Beth.

Actually, there are. Car insurance companies consider certain types of accidents to be pretty immune to debate when it comes to figuring out who is at fault in a car insurance claim. This makes it much easier for the people involved, and things are solved a lot faster. Like with everything, there are a few exceptions to the rule. However, these are rare and often they don’t even end up with you being completely at fault.

The main car insurance collision claim that would be considered in this category is the rear end accident. The rear end accident is usually caused when one car drives into another cars rear end. This is a pretty cut and dry situation, because it is very hard to simply change the story or manipulate the evidence. There’s a crunched back end bumper on one car, and a crunched up front end on the other. Obviously, these two fit like puzzle pieces.

Some might argue that a car insurance accident cannot be their fault if the person in front of them hit the brakes. Your car insurance company won’t buy that, though. I’m with everybody else in thinking that there is a special place in hell for people who hit the brakes with passion and frequency, but regardless of your feelings, if you had been practicing defensive driving then you would have been far enough behind the other car to have slowed to a stop before coming in contact with them. The usual rule is that you be at least three seconds behind the car in front of you. This may be a difficult distance to determine, since you can’t see seconds, but be generous. You’re only helping yourself.

The reason that rules like that are in place is because there are many excusable reasons to hit the brakes all of the sudden. While the majority of jerk drivers do it because they forgot they needed to turn here, or realized they wanted a hamburger, it could also be because a kid walking home from school darted out into the street. If someone hit their brakes in that instance, and you ran into them, is it their fault? Yet it applies to all situations.

There are some cases in a rear end accident where your car insurance claim rewards might be diminished because you contributed somewhat to the negligence. For example, if you are driving at night and your lights, or even one of them, is out? It is your own fault, because you were putting yourself at danger and in many situations another driver would not be able to see you.

There is the much more rare situation where someone will actually back into another person. This doesn’t often happen in traffic, but I have seen it before, such as when people realize too late that they need to change lanes. However, it does happen. Since you can’t tell from the damages what happened in this case, it would be wise to get the statements of some witnesses.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

When I am filing a car insurance accident report, how will traffic car insurance laws effect who is considered to be the at fault driver?

Ronny

Thanks for asking, Ronny.

I think that one of the greatest ways to get your car insurance accident claim done your own way is to be educated. Be the smart one in the situation, and impress your car insurance claim adjuster with your knowledge. So, let’s begin. What’s a good thing to know about when you need to prove that a car insurance accident wasn’t your fault? Car insurance law and state traffic laws. State traffic laws can be the biggest factor in showing that the other driver, while they may not have been a very direct cause to the accident, was at least reckless or negligent in some manner.

Traffic laws govern the way people drive, and it isn’t very hard to find out which ones rule the roads of your own state. The information is publicly available in your local library. The listing is usually called the complete vehicle code. Other places that you can get a hold of it are law libraries (which you can find in universities, usually, and if you want to find one somewhere else, just check the yellow pages) as well as the department of motor vehicles.

How do you use the complete vehicle code when making a car insurance accident claim? It’s simple, and it doesn’t really take very much time so long as you have a clear idea in your head of the event of your car insurance accident. Just look in the index section of the vehicle code book and try to find any sort of laws that might apply to your car insurance accident claim report. These might be things such as speed limits, or right of way, or stop sign laws. Once you find the laws that apply to you, don’t just scribble a note down. For the best effect, you need to have the entirety of the wording of the law, correctly, as well as the statute number. This way, when you submit it to your car insurance company they will be able to confirm what you are claiming. It is always good to have accurate data and sources when you are using information that is not simply from your memory. It’s the same principle when they require you to submit your medical bills and statements so that they can verify your car insurance accident injury claims.

What happens if you have trouble finding the right laws to apply to your car insurance accident? All you have to do is ask a librarian to help you. They know what they’re doing. This is why I always suggest going to the library over going to the department of motor vehicles–considering that, concerning the latter, we know that they don’t know what they’re doing, and don’t want to help you.

Traffic law violations are also often included in the police report if they happen. If this is the case with your car insurance accident, then you should reference the police report. However, you might find it necessary to look up your law anyway–just for extra back up.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

If I get into a car insurance accident, how am I supposed to prove that I’m not at fault?

Juan

Thank you for your question, Juan.

Many times, when someone gets into a car insurance accident with, say, a pedestrian or someone riding a bike, it is easy to tell who the blame needs to be laid on. The percentage of the blame laid on a certain participant in a car insurance accident is called negligence, and there are many ways in which this kind of negligence can be determined. While common sense always plays a big role in the decisions as to who is at fault for a car insurance accident, what really seals a good car insurance claim case is the presence of a traffic or law violation that can be seen as having caused the accident. Without such a violation on the part of the at fault driver, you may have a tougher case to prove.

The best way to back your story up is to get a police report written up on the accident. This is always done whent he accident involves an injury, but should be done any time you intend to make a car insurance accident claim for the collision. All you have to do is call the police, and they will send some officers over to check out the damage and to take your stories.

Often, a police report will contain what the police officer claims as to who is the at fault driver in the incident. Normally this is stated because the person who is claimed to be the at fault driver appears to have committed some sort of traffic violation and the police officer believes that this puts them rather obviously at fault for the car insurance accident. Other times, while there will not be an outright opinion stated in the police report, the police officer will report any sort of violation that occured, whether a citation was given, and so on, although he or she may not state that it was this that was one of the main contributing factors to the accident. The first situation is pretty bad for the at fault driver, the second slightly better, but still not a good sign.

As the driver who was not at fault, these police reports can definitely be used in your favor, even if the police officer did not stater their opinion. Sometimes in a car insurance accident where there is some dispute as to who caused the accident, it is difficult to get documentation proving it, especially if you can’t contact witnesses who might have been there at the time, or if there weren’t any witnesses at all. In this case, using the police report comes in handy.

But what happens if the police officer who writes the police report about the car insurance accident is of the opinion that you are the one who was at fault for the accident, and you know that you were not? Well, it’s not the end of the world. It is possible, indeed, to fight a police report, but it will be difficult at times. First of all, make sure you have as much of your own documentation as possible, such as pictures and contacts with witnesses. This can be useful if you need to challenge a claim so that you don’t have to py a deductible and your rates don’t increase.

A lot of times, the police report will only have a contributory effect on the final outcome of the car insurance accident claim decision. This is because most car insurance companies have their own investigations, which sometimes take days or weeks and involve experts who might be able to see more details than a police officer would. While the police report does play a part, car insurance companies pay more attention to their own people.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

Okay, I got into a car accident, and I didn’t outright cause it, but if it weren’t for certain physical limitations of mine, it wouldn’t have been as bad as it was. Will I still be able to make a car insurance claim for my injuries?

Lucy

That’s a great question, Lucy.

On every subject, there is a situation that is not as clear as others. While it is easy to say who is at fault when someone rear ends another car, it is a bit more difficult to say if someone had some sort of fault if their eyesight was not in good enough shape to be able to drive in the safest way possible on the road. If you have some type of physical limitation that makes you wonder if some of the negligence in an accident may be put on you, then this might make you think as little bit.

There are many physical limitations that have an effect on driving, and one of the main ones is eyesight. This is one reason why car insurance companies often only give discounts for senior physical car insurance liability premiums if those seniors get regular exams to make sure that they are in the best shape to be driving. There comes a point when simple corrective lenses do not work. However, most people are able to wear glasses and contacts to solve this problem. Then there are other situations–perhaps someone has a leg that shakes a little bit, which caused them to put their foot on the gas and make a accident caused by someone else worse.

There is an expectation from the car insurance company that a driver who has certain limitations will take certain measures that may be necessary to lessen or get rid of the impact that their problem might have on their driving. For this reason, there might not be an excuse if someone with very bad vision goes driving without their glasses. However, there are some conditions which may slightly worsen an accident, although not causing it, which are normally not dangerous and can not be expected to be taken care of in any other way; or if someone has already accounted for their physical limitations and is driving safely.

The truth is that the final responsibility falls on the person who caused the accident. It is their responsibility to make sure that it is safe for anyone who may be driving on the road or their property, regardless of their physical limitations. If someone plows into the side of your car, then it is not your fault that you were put into that situation, because that was due to their own negligence. Therefore, in most cases, you are not at all at fault.

However, there are some instances in which the situation may become a little more murky, such as if your problem should have been taken care of before you went driving or if it contributed more significantly to the damages. In these cases, it would be wise to hire a car insurance liability claim attorney, who can help you navigate the claims system and get the negligence quotient that you deserve.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.