As you know, every driver is required to get car insurance before going out on the road. Car insurance covers damages from an accident or theft to your vehicle that are beyond your control and your insurer may pay medical expenses if you – the driver – and your passengers are injured. Additionally, car insurance protects you financially if you are liable for the damages and injuries inflicted on another driver and their vehicle.
Most car insurance plans include liability coverage. Liability coverage, as stated above, protects a driver from financial repercussions from damages they’ve caused to another driver. A driver may have to use their liability coverage if they’ve caused an accident
As a result of an accident, insurers may raise their insurance costs. This ensures the costs they spent to cover another party are recovered. However, insurers may raise their insurance costs even if the insured party isn’t in an accident. Here’s what you should know:
High-risk drivers
Typically, insurance rates are high until people can prove they are safe drivers. Another way to look at car insurance is that insurers expect and accept the risk that the party insured may be in an accident or liable to cause damages. However, insurers aren’t typically pleased to know the party they’ve insured has been in an accident or caused one because it costs them money.
Because a DUI or other criminal conviction affects a driver’s record, an insurer may be hesitant to insure a driver. This may be because the driver has a history that shows they are more likely to cause an accident than others –drivers with DUI convictions are considered high-risk drivers because they are more likely to file a claim. As such, an insurer doesn’t want to put their money on someone who may have a tendency to cost them more.
However, insurers are required to insure drivers even if the driver has a DUI conviction. Drivers who stay with their insurer after a DUI conviction should expect to see their insurance rates rise.
