Insurance Implications for Drunk Driving

Driving under the influence of alcohol is dangerous. This is common knowledge to most anyone. Drunk driving increases your risk of accidents and damage to yourself, someone else and your vehicle. Because drunk driving has so many consequences, many insurance companies will not allow coverage to someone that has drunk driving tickets on their record.

By drinking and driving you are telling the insurance companies that you are not a responsible driver. Many insurance companies will deny coverage to those who have drunk driving convictions because they do not want to take on the risk of you repeating the offense.

Most insurance companies only want to cover individuals that are the least likely to be in a motor vehicle accident, or at least are average with the rest of the population on their risk of being involved in a wreck. If you have a drunk driving conviction on your record, you have shown that you are more likely to be involved in a wreck than someone who has never been caught drinking and driving.

Some insurance companies will take the risk of allowing you car insurance coverage. This coverage will most likely come at a very high cost. If you have a drunk driving mark on your record, you can expect to have your rates hiked up by 80%. If you have injured or fatally wounded someone while drunk driving, it will be almost impossible for you to find an insurance company to sell you car insurance.

Driving drunk not only puts you at risk of killing yourself or someone else, it also comes with the risk of totaling your car or someone else's, and causing damage to property. If you have coverage, your insurance company would have to pay for these charges. You may want to check your insurance policy because some car insurance companies will not cover damages caused by drinking and driving.

Some insurance companies, such as Halifax will not even attempt to find loop holes to cover people with past drunk driving convictions. Insurers such as Kwik-Fit will provide coverage to some who have drunk driving records, but, you can expect to pay a lot of money for this coverage.

Most people who are convicted of drunk driving lose their license and are not permitted to drive. However, judges and laws are different and a drunk driver may still be given the privilege to drive. This privilege may be hard to obtain if you cannot find an insurance company to cover you. Not being able to secure affordable car insurance because of a drunk driving conviction is just one of the hundreds of reasons why it is not a good idea to drink and drive.