High Risk Car Insurance Companies – Which Ones Are Best?
Reader question:
Where do I find a high risk motor car insurance company? And what do I do if I can’t?
Miriam
That’s an excellent question, Miriam.
The first thing that I would do in your situation is try to get in tough with your state department of insurance. The first thing you might want to do is ask how popular the assigned risk pool for your state is. The answer for that right there might give you an idea of what your chances are of finding a high risk motor car insurance company that will accept you. If the assigned risk program has a lot of people in it, then it might be tough for you to get a policy without it. However, if the pickings are pretty slim among the assigned risk policy holders, then you probably have a fighting chance. Knowing that, it’s time to move to a different part of the department of insurance’s website.
Some of the DoI’s websites are more helpful than others. Oregon has an excellent one, whereas the one where I am from (Texas) is ridiculous. What most do have, though, is a list of insurance companies that are licensed by the state. If the website for your state does not have one of these, then you should call up the department and find out where you can get one. Never get a policy or so much as a sandwich from a car insurance company not on this list.
Some of the names on the list might clue you in that they could be of some service, such as those that indicate that they serve high risk customers. Keep track of these so that you can get quotes from them later. I would also suggest that you give a glance at the Progressive website, or even just get some instant car insurance quotes from a more general site and compare your Progressive quote to other quotes. Progressive is one of the big time motor car insurance companies that is well known for taking care of high risk drivers. If they operate in your state, definitely check them out.
Now, if all else fails, you just go back to step one. The assigned risk pool. This alternative is a little costly, especially with the high car insurance prices in many areas, but considering that car insurance is require by law, many people don’t have much of an option. I do want to stress that before you consider this, check out all of your options. Look online, get rate quotes from plenty of websites, ask friends. Assigned risk pools are the last resort, and expensive, so you don’t want to join one unless you absolutely have to.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
DUI – How Will This Effect My Car Insurance Rate?
Reader question:
When you get a DUI, do your car insurance rates always go up?
Dwayne
They do usually, but not always.
Most states require you to file an SR 22 form to prove that you have DUI car insurance, but not every state does. If you want to know if your state is one of the ones that does not deal with the SR 22 form, then you should contact your state department of insurance. If they don’t, then it’s very possible that your car insurance company won’t find out about your drunk driving offense until you give them the heads up. The reason for this is primarily because the insurance companies aren’t keeping a constant eye on the record, and if anything, they probably only look at it every six months, if not less.
There are a couple of other reasons though. One of them is that the courts don’t automatically give all of their information over to the DMV, so even if your car insurance company does look at your record, the offense might not be there. Another is that a lot of times, when people commit moving violations, they will take defensive driving courses in order to wipe the violation from their record. This is one of the very popular possibilities when it is offered, because most courses are either very cheap or free. Sometimes when you commit a DUI, your license gets suspended, but the shorter the time of the suspension the less likely is your car insurance company to find out.
Even if they don’t know right away, though, they still have a period of three years to find out. During that time, they can cancel your policy as soon as they find out. Aside from the misrepresentation, that in itself doesn’t mean that your rates will go up or you’ll get canceled, either. Some companies have policies where, if you have been a customer with a good history and driving record, you can be forgiven for an offense, even one as serious as driving under the influence of alcohol. Sometimes you don’t even lose your safe driver discount, so long as you keep driving clean.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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