Q: My family recently moved from Massachusetts to Colorado. In Colorado, we were required to get an auto policy in order to get a CO registration and CO plates. In MA, they do not allow you to cancel your auto policy until you cancel your plates. This means we have been double-covered for a period of time before we get our CO plates. Our CO auto insurance company informed us that we should be reimbursed the period from when our CO policy went into place to the date we get plates (as long as it is within the 90 day period allotted by law in CO) by our MA insurance company. When I checked with our MA company however, we were told that would not happen, so now we are paying for 2 policies currently until we obtain plates. Auto and Homeowners insurance went into affect the day we closed on our CO residence and we do not have a residence in MA. What are the laws regarding this? We should not have to pay 2 policies because we moved.

A: Oh, Massachusetts!  This state is an insurance beast all it’s own, so much so that some insurance companies refuse to write insurance in that state and the ones that do usually have a whole department dedicated just to dealing with Massachusetts.

Agreed that you should not have to pay for two auto insurance policies, the problem is that insurance is regulated by the states and you are stuck in limbo between two of them.

What I would recommend is contacting the Division of Insurance in Massachusetts (http://www.mass.gov/ocabr/government/oca-agencies/doi-lp/) or the RMV and tell them your situation. You technically have insurance on that vehicle, even if it is in the state of Colorado and that should suffice for their insurance requirement given the situation.

The day before Thanksgiving is one of the worst travel days of the year.  If you are traveling on this day, make sure you give yourself enough time incase something goes wrong and to account for all of the additional traffic on the road. Stay safe and stay alert to keep those insurance premiums down

Infographic from Gerber Life.

Q: I recieved my DUI in 2014 and I still havent gotten my SR22 insurance. I didn’t realize I needed it. WIll i have a legal issue if I start it now? Should I go to the DMV to inqure? Or should I speak with my insurance company first? Also, would my insurance complany drop me if I asked about the SR22 insurance?

A: Contact your insurance agent today!! You need to get this taken care of now.

Your agent will walk you through the process of how to get this situation taken care of so that you don’t have legal issues. In most states your SR22 requirement doesn’t start the date you get pulled over for a DUI, but the date you are convicted of it.  The state should have notified you that you are now required to have it and the effective date.

Your insurance company will not drop you (in most cases), but they may have to backdate the SR22 surcharge to the date that the state required you to have it so you can provide proof of it to the state for that time period.

Q:  I was in accident that was ruled my fault. I also was excluded from the car insurance policy that my girlfriend holds. I own the car & the only reason I was excluded was to save money, I had a point from a accident 3 years ago.  The car insurance company called me back to say they’re checking my vin number on my car & they were going to review it & they might process the claim..can they put me back on the policy..

A: This is really the call of the insurance company. If you are the owner of the vehicle, most insurance companies will not allow you to insure your car on one of their policies and then exclude yourself as a driver to get a cheaper rate.  A driver exclusion means that the excluded driver does not drive that vehicle EVER, that is why the rate is cheaper.  So the reality is, that the insurance company does not trust that you as the owner of the vehicle never drive your own vehicle.