West Virginia Car Insurance

Keeping your West Virginia car insurance active is much cheaper than the fees and fines for getting caught without it.

Keeping your West Virginia car insurance active will give you nothing to worry about if chosen for a random insurance verification.

West Virginia’s car insurance requirements only require that you carry liability coverage to be able to drive. The liability coverage is meant to make sure that you can pay for any injuries or damages you may cause to another party. This not only protects other drivers from accidents that they are not at fault for, but it also protects you financially.

Without having liability coverage, you will be responsible to pay for all of the costs associated with the accident. Initially the other party’s insurance company may pay for a good portion of it, but they will come after you to get their money back. This can lead to lawsuits, collection agencies contacting you and even bankruptcy if you cannot pay.

The Required West Virginia Car Insurance

The minimum liability coverage that you are allowed to purchase and still drive legally is:

• $20,000 in coverage for injuries (or death) you may inflict on another person with your vehicle.

• $40,000 in coverage for all of the injuries in a single car accident that you are at fault for. This coverage is for when there are two or more people injured and is the most that your insurance company would pay out for medical expenses.

• $10,000 in coverage for damages you do with your vehicle to property that you do not own. This is not just limited to other vehicles you may hit; but also traffic signs, houses, fences, etc.

Random West Virginia Car Insurance Checks

Proof of West Virginia car insurance is required whenever you are asked for it by a police officer, register your vehicle or are sent a random insurance check letter by the DMV. When you receive this letter, you are required to return it with proof of the insurance coverage that you have. Your letter will have more details as to the exact proof they need and how you can return it.

If you ignore this letter, forget about the letter, or do not have insurance; you will find your driver’s license and vehicle’s registration suspended.

Reinstatement of Privileges after No West Virginia Car Insurance

Once you have lost your driving privileges (license and registration), to get them back you have to wait and pay. Waiting consists of 30 days before you can get your driver’s license back and 90 days if you are caught without insurance a second time. You also have to wait until you get car insurance back in force.

Now, for the fees you will owe to reinstate everything. Please keep in mind these are just reinstatement fees, this is not everything you will be required to pay as there are other fees and fines involved for driving without West Virginia car insurance.

First, to reinstate you vehicle registration you will be required to pay a $100 fee, plus another $50 if the DMV had to send a state police secure order on your plates. Second, getting back your driver’s license will require another $50 to reinstate.

Basically, you have just wasted almost $200 because you thought you would save money by not paying for the mandatory West Virginia car insurance that you have to buy now anyway to be able to drive again.