Kentucky Auto Insurance Companies – Is Your Personal Information Safe?
Reader’s Question:
I was contacted by an insurance carrier in Owensboro and they told me that they compared their car insurance rates to our insurance carrier and they said they offer better car insurance rates. They said they were looking at our insurance policy and said we could get a better deal with them. How is it possible that they have access to our auto insurance information?
Desiree
Owensboro, KY
Normally a competing insurance company is not permitted to have access to your current insurance policy. For marketing, typically an insurer will look at your current registered cars and try to rate it with that. Competing insurance carriers/agents can access general information about you like your age, where you live, tax status, etc., however they should not have access to your actual car insurance policy without your permission. They are in violation of insurance privacy regulations if they do.
Most likely the insurance carrier that called you was using a marketing strategy to get your business. As for comparing their car insurance rates with your insurance carriers rates overall, that is possible since some insurers do publish sample insurance rate quotes. For instance, you live in Owensboro Kentucky, here the Kentucky Department of Insurance (DOI) provides a consumer guide that lists insurance carriers authorized to sell auto/homeowners/renters insurance in KY and those insurers have provided rate comparisons for certain situations.
If you believe that the insurance company that contacted you truly did have a copy of your car insurance policy then you can have the KY DOI, the insurance regulator for the state, investigate the issue and you can file a formal complaint with this state agency.
Ways To Get Cheaper Car Insurance Rates
Q: I always end up spending a lot of time every month paying my bills, and I’ve noticed how big a burden car insurance is. Can I get cheaper insurance, or is that out of possibility?
A: Since you waste a lot of time paying bills, there is one thing you can do which will make it easier for you to get all of your bills taken care of in a smaller amount of time, and which will also aid you in receiving cheap car insurance. Actually, there are two ways. Way one would be for you to try and pay all of your car insurance at once each time you renew. If you pay monthly, an installment fee is added on to your premiums. By bypassing the installments, you can save around fifty dollars.
Way two would be for you to get your insurance from a company which provides multiple kinds of insurance. If you get your health, life, home owners or renters, and auto insurance all with one company, you can not only combine the premium to make it more manageable, but you can also get a discount for compressing multiple insurance lines into one policy.
1. Raising your deductible amount is the fastest and easiest way to lower your rates!
2. Ask for discounts – teachers – good grades for students – AARP -Credit union membership and even some banks offer clubs/memberships
3. Improve your credit score – most insurance carriers look at your credit history and adjust rates accordingly. Pay your bills on time!
How Long Will Traffic Ticket Affect My Car Insurance Rates?
Q: For how long will a traffic ticket affect my car insurance rates? I have a dui charge on my record.
A: If you have a moving violation on your traffic ticket, then in most cases it will remain on your driving record for around three to five years. Although many car insurance companies only keep on using it to rate your insurance for three years after the fact, many companies will do this for five years to affect your insurance. It really depends on the car insurance company you have with. As for your SR22 – DUI charge itself, if you got it because of a DUI, then that will likely affect your insurance rates for around three to five years as well, but it will be on your driving record for 10 years and it is still possible for it to affect your rates during that time.
If you do receive a moving violation, then even if you are guilty you should do your best to try to fight it when you arrive at your court date, because if you don’t you could see your days of cheap SR22 insurance go away. Many car insurance companies enact stiff penalties for people who have moving violations, and things such as speeding tickets have been know to cause rises of as much as 25% in car insurance rates.
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