Can I Cancel Car Insurance?
Reader’s Question:
My son will be studying abroad and will not be driving his vehicle for a year (his car is registered and insured under his name). Can he take off the insurance in his car in Bloomington, Indiana and place the insurance back when he returns?
Paul
Bloomington, IN
It will depend upon the state laws and where the vehicle is garaged if your son can take the car insurance off of the automobile. In many states if your vehicle is registered you need to have car insurance placed on it with at least the state’s minimum car insurance requirements. So your son may need to turn in his license plates and registration in order to take insurance off his vehicle so he will not be penalized by the state where he lives in.
In most states if you just remove the insurance on a car without turning in your license plates and registration this will be considered a lapse in your car insurance and may penalized such as registration and license suspension and fines.
It will likely increase your son’s car insurance rates when he comes back if he has a lapse on his car insurance for a year. Your son needs to talk to his car insurance company to know exactly how much his car insurance rates may rise from the lapse in car insurance policy.
Is my Car Covered if my Car Insurance Lapsed?
Reader’s Question:
Is my car covered if my auto insurance lapses in South Bend, Indiana? How long is it covered for?
Larry
South Bend, IN
With car insurance, there is no grace period. Normally if you do not pay then your car insurance policy will cancel at 12:01 AM of the day listed on your payment notice or expiration date from your automobile insurance carrier. If you do not pay and your car insurance lapses you do not have any insurance coverage. There is no grace period for you to be covered for you to obtain a new car insurance policy or reinstate your insurance policy.
If you let your auto insurance lapse and your insurance company reports this to your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, which is required in many states, then you can face fines and penalties for disregarding car insurance laws. In most states you need to turn in your license plates and registration if you cancel or have a lapse in car insurance. If you do not do so then your driver’s license and registration can be suspended for a period of time. Some states just require you to pay a fee and show proof of car insurance after a lapse.
Do not let your car insurance lapse in South Bend, Indiana as much as possible. If it does and you are caught driving without car insurance or even worse at-fault in an accident you will face penalties for driving uninsured and be held personally liable for the damages you have caused since you did not have any auto insurance in effect.
Will a No Seat Belt Violation Go to My Driving Record?
Reader’s Question:
I recently had a speeding ticket but fortunately it was reduced to a no seat belt violation for $25 in Indiana. I was just wondering if it will go to my driving record and if it will raise my auto insurance rate? Thanks in advance!
Jasmine
Bloomington, IN
It seems like as if you had a speeding ticket that was dismissed and only a seat belt offense stayed as part of the ticket.
Like what you said, a seat belt violation is usually only cost $25 but it will likely go on your driving record. I have read somewhere that in Indiana most traffic offenses are infractions. Although an infraction is an offense against the State, it is not considered as a crime; it is only civil offense. .
Generally this type of ticket or offense will not cause your car insurance rate to increase in Indiana. But, there are some instances when it might raise your auto insurance rates if you have a high frequency of being cited for this type of violation. Also some insurers may remove any safe driver discounts which would cause your car insurance rates to rise.
How Credit Score Affect your Car Insurance Policy
Q: I hear my credit is used to get prices for my Indiana SR-22 policy. What does my credit have to do with how I drive?
A: Your credit history doesn’t actually have much to do with the way you drive and how safe it is, but if you think about it, there are a lot of things about Indiana SR-22 car insurance premium rating which have nothing to do with how you handle yourself behind the wheels. For example, many people get better prices when they get married or move to a new location. Gender and age are often used in the rating process as well.
Unrelated things like these are able to be used in the Indiana SR-22 rating process because the car insurance companies have data which back them up when they say that someone with such and such characteristic is a higher risk than someone with this and that characteristic. With credit history, it’s much the same. More claims come from people with bad credit than from those with good credit.
Your credit report is also a good way for your Indiana SR-22 company to gauge whether or not you’ll be paying your car insurance premium on time, and your reliability in that area will affect how you’re charged as well.
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