You are spending money every month on your car insurance premiums. Is the driver in the car next to you, or behind you, doing the same? Even though most states require all drivers to purchase auto insurance, this doesn’t actually mean that everyone has it. A study shows that a number of people who do not have car insurance are continuing to drive, anyway.
It is important to have car insurance for many reasons. The most immediate reason that comes to mind for many people is because the state that you live in requires all drivers to be covered by an auto insurance policy. Those that are not covered by their own policy, (or their spouse’s or parent’s policy), who are still driving, are breaking the law in those states.
For most people, being in compliance with a state law is enough motivation for them to fork over enough money to pay for their car insurance premium each and every month. This isn’t true for everyone, though. An online study that was done by Harris Interactive, on behalf of InsuranceQuotes.com., revealed that 16% of drivers said that they have, at one time or another, driven without being covered by any form of auto insurance. One might assume that this means that those people do have car insurance now, but that isn’t necessarily true. A total of 2% of people who took this survey admitted that they are currently continuing to drive without having auto insurance!
The survey also asked why people were driving without auto insurance. The biggest reason, given by 44% of the people who were surveyed, was that they couldn’t afford to pay their car insurance premium. Some people, 24% of those surveyed, said that the reason why they were driving without being covered by auto insurance was because their policy had lapsed. In other words, the policy expired before they got around to renewing it.
Another reason, given by 19% of those responding to the survey, was because they had switched insurance companies. There was a gap between when their old policy ended, and their new policy kicked in. 12% of people said that they were driving without insurance because their insurance company had canceled their policy.
One of the most important reasons why you need to have auto insurance is in case you get into an accident. If you are at fault, then your insurance will pay for the damage to the other driver’s car, and for the medical care that the people in the other car need, due to the accident. Without auto insurance, you would have to pay for all of those expenses out of pocket.
This survey is scary, because it means that there is potential that the driver who crashes into the back end of your car may not have insurance. How will that person pay for the damages he or she caused? Uninsured drivers may be tempted to leave the scene of the accident, to avoid getting caught driving without insurance. This will leave you, the person who is following the law, stuck with the bills.
Image by xersti on Flickr