I have a 1987 sedan that I don’t use, but I own it. Do I have to get used car insurance coverage for it anyway?

Sam

That’s a great question, Sam.

The answer to that is dependent on where you live, though. The state car insurance laws are pretty mixed up on this point, because some states require you to have used car insurance coverage even if your car is propped up on blocks of wood in the front yard. In New York, you have to have auto insurance so long as you own a vehicle and have the title, or are buying a vehicle, and it is of no consequence that you aren’t actually using that vehicle. In order to be excepted from this rule, you would have to give evidence through a certain form that your car is not only unused, but unusable, or that you have sold it to another person or to a junk yard.

If you don’t want to get in trouble by falling victim to a random check of car insurance, then I would advise you to do yourself a favor and look up your state’s department of insurance website to find out what kind of laws your state has concerning this.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

I’ve been looking and looking, but since I got my last car insurance policy canceled, nobody wants to give me a car insurance policy in Texas. What do I do?

Greg

Excellent question.

I understand your dilemma. There must have been a reason for the cancellation for your car insurance policy, and that is probably one of the big reasons why car insurance companies around the area won’t admit you. Whether they were showing you the door for a conviction for driving while intoxicated, or if they just didn’t want you because you had missed a car insurance premium payment, recent inconsistencies in the records of your previous car insurance company can have an affect on your insurability as well as your rates.

The first thing you want to do is step up your game and continue to shop around for good car insurance deals. It is still possible that you just haven’t looked hard enough, so if you give it a try you might do better. Get some free online car insurance quotes and see if anybody has a good deal

If all else fails, you might want to consider getting involved in the Texas car insurance risk pool. Going by the name of the Texas Auto Insurance Plan Association, this pool helps people who are generally refused by car insurance companies a chance to get covered as required by Texas state insurance law. The standard premium for TAIPA costs more than that for a company outside of it, but it is better than not getting insured at all.

Unfortunately, you might not be able to get TAIPA if you are in the process of buying a vehicle, because it does not offer coverages that are often required by financiers, such as comprehensive and collision. Instead, it can give you the state liability requirements, and you also have options of uninsured motorist coverage and PIP.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

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.

How do I save on the car insurance that I already have?

Luke

Great question.

Let me keep this simple and quick. There are so many ways to save on car insurance that you wouldn’t believe, but the easiest ways are the following three.

1. Jack up your deductible. Getting a low deductible brings higher car insurance premiums, and considering that you will rarely use that deductible, it just doesn’t make sense to be paying so much over time to pay a smaller price one time. Instead, keep out of your car insurance claims office when it comes to fender benders and save it for the serious stuff. Raise your deductible and make sure you have money set aside to pay for it should you ever have to make a claim.
2. Get rid of what you don’t need. A lot of people end up paying too much on their car insurance premium because they have coverage that just isn’t necessary. You can save a lot of money by going down to just the state minimum on your car insurance and getting rid of things like collision and comprehensive. As a warning, though, only do this if your car isn’t big on value. If you have a car that is worth a lot, stick with the bigger amount of coverage.
3. Discounts! There is a plethora of discounts out there from everything ranging from your report card to your air bags, and depending on the company, in some cases you could save more than three fourths the amount of your premium. It’s worth looking into if you have the qualities typical of a responsible driver, considering that you could save so much.
4. Shop around. You could get a much cheaper price than you have right now just by getting a free online auto insurance quote and comparing the quotes from different companies to see who is best in price with the most value.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.