Q: I just got my first DUI, what is that going to do to my car insurance?

A: Wow, I don’t even know where to start to explain to you how badly this is going to jack up your insurance rates. First, you aren’t going to see it right away, because most likely your license is going to be suspended for a certain period of time. And please don’t bother driving during this time period, because if you get caught you can add another serious infraction to the list of things that are now going to increase your rates.

When you get your license back, most states require that you now carry SR-22, FR19 or some other form of financial responsibility addition to your insurance policy. So first, you can add the filing fee for this financial responsibility that your car insurance company now has to send to your state. Second, most insurance companies also increase your premium, on top of the filing fee,  if you have to carry an SR-22 or other form of financial responsibility. Third, that SR-22 or other financial responsibility filing that you had to ask to have added to your policy midterm is going to flag your insurance company that something is up and they will run your MVR the next renewal, which may be much sooner than they had originally planned on running it. Fourth, once they do run that MVR they are going to find your DUI (which is a serious infraction charge, by the way) and anything else that has been added to your MVR since the last time your car insurance company ran it.

All-in-all, you shouldn’t have got yourself a DUI if you wanted to keep your car insurance rates reasonable.

Q: My dog goes with me almost everywhere. If I am in a car accident and he is hurt, will my car insurance cover the vet bills?

A: There is nothing in current car insurance policies that cover injuries sustained by a pet in a car accident. However, the good news is that car insurance companies are starting to understand how important pets are to us now and they have been starting to add pet coverage to other types of policies, like homeowners and specialty boat coverage. Car insurance may be a ways off though, if they even do decide to add that coverage, as having a pet in a car is actually a hazard if they aren’t in a carrier and most aren’t. So car insurance companies aren’t in a big hurry to offer protection for something they would rather not have in the car in the first place.

There is though, a big push to start selling pet insurance as a standalone policy. Again, insurance companies are seeing the importance of pets to us and know that we would pay for insurance protection on them. Now, these policies will most likely have coverage for your pet if they were injured in a car accident, so this is what you should be asking your car insurance agent about if you are looking for protection for your pet in a car accident.

Q: Will getting a ticket for using my cell phone while driving affect my car insurance?

A: Yes, getting a ticket for using your cell phone can affect your car insurance rates. How much it will affect your car insurance will depend on the state you live in and also what car insurance company you are with. In regards to your state, each state treats these types of tickets different as to what kind of violation they are and they also treat them different in regards to how serious they consider these types of tickets. In addition, each state has different laws about ticketing for talking on your cell phone, texting on your cell phone, and even just having your cell phone in your hand. So it depends on how your cell phone ticket is coded on your driving record as to the impact it may have on your car insurance rates.

As for your car insurance company, this is such a new type of ticket many car insurance companies are still working on how they are going to rate these tickets.  Some go by just what comes across on the DMV report and others treat them very seriously and have them ranked as a serious offense next to reckless driving.

For more information and exactly how your insurance company is going treat any recent ticket you have received, it is best to contact your car insurance agent or car insurance company for more information.

Q: My car insurance agent told me there is no such thing as full coverage auto insurance, but I know I have been told there is by other people, does my agent know what they are talking about?

A: Yes, your car insurance agent knows what they are talking about because full coverage auto insurance is actually just a myth. Because there are so many pieces to car insurance and because we all need different coverages to provide us with the best protection possible for our unique situations, there is literally no such thing as full coverage auto insurance.

What this came from is that people started calling having liability and comprehensive and collision on their vehicles “full coverage”. But one, that is not the most insurance coverage that you can possibly buy, so it is really not “full” in that sense. Two, to one person having full coverage may be the liability, the comp, the collision, the towing, and the rental car coverage and to another it may just be the liability coverage that the state requires them to have.

So rest assured, your car insurance agent does indeed know what they are talking about.

Q: A friend of mine that lives in a different state told me they have no fault car insurance. What is that and do I have it also?

A: No fault insurance is also called PIP coverage. It is personal injury protection coverage that pays for your injuries whether you were at fault for the accident or not, this is why it is called no fault insurance. For one state in particular, this type of coverage came about because the number of fraudulent car insurance medical claims reached astronomical levels.

Large organized groups of people would box an innocent driver in and then one of the vehicles would cut them off and slam on their brakes so that the innocent driver would rear end them. The people in the other cars would then give statements as witnesses stating that the innocent driver was actually driving too close and that’s how they rear ended the front driver. No matter how much the innocent driver claimed the truth of what really happened, they were outnumbered by the people in the front vehicle and the fake witnesses in the vehicles that boxed them in.

In addition to the accident set up, there were also doctors involved that confirmed injuries that were fake and attorneys that help set the stage for settlements. Everyone got a payout from this fake claim.

When these rings were finally busted the state stepped in and started changing coverage laws to help stop this car insurance fraud from happening.