The surcharge disclosure plan for an insurance company varies by company and even by state.

When you get into an accident or earn a traffic violation, your insurance company will eventually find out about it. Once they do, you will most likely see your insurance premium increase; depending on what your insurance company’s surcharge plan is.

A surcharge plan is:

• The dollar amount that your insurance company will pay up to for an accident, before they apply a surcharge.

• Accidents that they do not apply a surcharge to.

• Traffic violations they apply a surcharge to.

• The amount of time that they will keep the surcharge on your insurance policy for, after a traffic violation or accident.

• The surcharge rate for the initial accident or traffic violation, and each one after that.

Now, the surcharge disclosure is a written statement that specifically states the surcharge plan of your insurance company. In most states the disclosure plan has to be provided to the consumer prior to purchase. For example, in Minnesota the law states:

“Before accepting the initial premium payment, an insurer or its agent shall provide a surcharge disclosure statement to any person who applies for a policy which is effective on or after January 1, 1983. If the insurer provides the surcharge disclosure statement on the insurer’s Web site, the insurer or agent may notify the applicant orally or in writing of its availability for review on the insurer’s Web site prior to accepting the initial payment, in lieu of providing a disclosure statement to the applicant in writing, if the insurer so notifies the applicant of the availability of a written version of this statement upon the applicant’s request. The insurer shall provide the surcharge disclosure statement in writing if requested by the applicant. An oral notice shall be presumed delivered if the agent or insurer makes a contemporaneous notation in the applicant’s record of the notice having been delivered or if the insurer or agent retains an audio recording of the notification provided to the applicant.” (2011 Minnesota Statutes 65B.133 Surcharge Disclosure)

For the specific surcharge disclosure for your insurance company, you will have to contact your insurance agent or insurance company directly.

The “fine print” of each insurance policy is very similar to the next, but you have a right to ask for them.

Yes, you have every right to ask for the fine print that goes along with an insurance policy. Because you are purchasing the fine print (the big packet of what is actual covered and not covered under an insurance policy) just like you are purchasing the coverages on the declarations page.

The difficulty that you may find is that insurance agents do not normally keep this part of the insurance policy in their office. You will most likely have to contact the insurance company directly to get this part of the policy. They may be able to send you a copy in the mail or they may have to get it from the legal department.

I know that this seems like a lot of work for something that should be readily available. However, not a lot of people ask for this part of the insurance policy and there is a reason for that. The legal part of an insurance policy is generally the same from one company to another.

You may also want to contact the Insurance Commissioner or Department of Insurance in your state, to find out any specific state laws related to this type of insurance policy request.

Standing firm and doing your research is the best way to increase the insurance settlement.

Your insurance company is all about the bottom line. They are in business to make money; and they do so by collecting your premium, not from paying out on claims. This means that when it comes to paying you for the total loss of your vehicle, most insurance companies are going to try and pay as little as possible.

To be able to get the true value of what your vehicle may be worth from the insurance company, be prepared with information to back up what you believe is the worth of your vehicle.

First, find out what the Blue Book value is for your vehicle, so you know what value your insurance company is using. Blue Book values have different levels of how much a vehicle is worth and you want to make sure that the insurance company isn’t using the lowest one listed. This will also give you a starting point of what to request for the insurance settlement amount.

You also need to find out what similar vehicles are selling for in your area. You will want to make copies of the sales ads for the vehicles, as proof to send to the claims adjuster working your case. Use this information to back up what you claim is the value of the vehicle.

Most of all, never take the first offer that the claims adjuster presents to you. You need to stand your ground and negotiate until it reaches a reasonable, insurance settlement amount that you can live with for the value of your vehicle.

An increase in your insurance rates will depend on more factors than just a single ticket.

Saying an insurance company will or will not increase your rates for a single ticket is almost impossible to say for sure. There are too many other factors that also determine if a rate increase will happen.

Factor like:

• Your age

• Any past tickets

• The insurance company itself

• How many points your state assigns for this particular type of ticket

As you can see, just getting a ticket is not the only thing that will determine if or how much your insurance rates will increase.

If you already have insurance, you don’t have to report that you got a ticket. Your insurance company will pull a Motor Vehicle Report (MVR) either at your renewal or every other renewal. It will be then that you will see any rate increase on your insurance; if they are going to raise it.

In Florida, you have to carry your insurance card whenever you drive.

Yes, you can get a ticket in the state of Florida for not having proof of insurance on you when driving another person’s vehicle.

“The Financial Responsibility Law requires owners and operators of motor vehicles to be financially responsible for damages and/or injuries they may cause to others when a motor vehicle crash happens.” (Florida Driver’s Handbook)

Please note that it says “owners and operators”, not just owners. This means that if you are driving a vehicle that is not yours, you still have to have your own insurance coverage.

If a driver in Florida is caught driving without proof of insurance, per state law s. 316.646(1) you can be ticketed. The officer is allowed to give you a ticket, even if you actually have insurance, but just don’t have your insurance card on you.

You can have the ticket dismissed when you provide proof of valid insurance along with $10.00 to pay the fee to the Clerk of the Court within 30 days of receiving the ticket. You are only able to have the ticket dismissed if your insurance was valid at the time you received the ticket.