Can Drunk Driving impact your Car Insurance Premium?

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You would have read it thousands of time, don’t drink and drive. But hardly people follow this golden rule of driving. Your negligence can not only cost you your life, it can also affect you socially, morally and financially. The consequences of drunk-driving conviction can be jail, guilt of harming others, a civil lawsuit, administrative and court fees and high insurance premium.

Drunk driving has adverse impact on the car insurance premium. What would the insurance company exactly do, depends on the company and the state law. The insurance company can cancel or decline the insurance policy, limit the claim and increase the insurance premium to a considerable amount.

In case your insurer declines you the policy, you can seek a new policy from the insurance company which offers insurance to high risk drivers. These companies offer non-standard insurance policy. Such policies are tailor made and are offered to people who have drunk driving conviction, negative driving records and people who live in areas where there is high vandalism and theft. Without a doubt, the rate of premium is quite high.

Insurance companies skyrocket your premium amounts if drinking driving conviction appear in your driving history. The insurance premium goes up by minimum of 300%. This is not a one time affair. You have to bear this hike for almost three to five years. This is big enough to cast a hole in your pocket, particularly, after paying for the attorney and court fees. Drunk driving not only affects your car insurance premium, it also affects your credit standing. As paying such high insurance premiums you start feeling its burden. In case you have a luxury car and you have a drunken driving conviction, it would be way too difficult for you to pay for your premiums.

But all is not lost; you can make efforts to bring down your car insurance premium. By your constant efforts and considerable time devotion you can lower down your insurance premiums. There are many specialists who negotiate with the car insurance companies on the behalf of the guilty. This results in limitations on your driving and policy. In the policy there would be certain clauses under which the insurer need not pay for the claim, which obviously include negligent driving after drinking.

The message of the insurance company is, quite loud and clear that ‘Don’t drink and drive’ both for our own safety and for economizing on your premium amounts. But, if you do get caught – find one of those great DUI Lawyers online, and save money!