I am a 25 year old working female who has been charged with DUI. My question is: Why do I need to get an SR-22 insurance policy when I don’t even own a car? I need to save money during these tough times.

Cassy

Louisville, KY

Cassy, an SR-22 insurance policy is needed in Kentucky if you have been convicted with DWI (driving while intoxicated or DUI which stands for driving under the influence), and you want to get your license reinstated. An SR-22 is needed for five years after the earliest offense, and then ten years after a subsequent offense, and then if you obtain a third offense, a full 20 years. I mean seriously, that maybe heaven’s way of telling you that you are not meant to drive. Ever.

But if you still ignore the voices of reason, common sense and logic even if they scream directly at your ear, and you still get a fourth offense, then you have to carry an SR-22 insurance for life. However, statistics show that most DWI violators do not reach the fourth offense. The afterlife is what they reach. But anyway…

If you do not possess your own vehicle, that will not stand in the way of you trashing others’ cars. Ask a car insurance company in your vicinity about a non-owner SR-22 policy, or you can check online for cheap rates. An SR-22 policy will insure that the driver is financially responsible for any accident that will arise even if he or she has shown ruthless behavior on the road. And for the record, bad drivers and cheap insurance policy do not belong in the same sentence. Oops. Well, you get the picture.

What is it they say about drinking and driving? Alcohol and gasoline do not mix. If you’re out to prove otherwise, well, they do mix, but it has a dreadful aftertaste.

I need to sell my new car and I can’t afford the payments. I have gap insurance in  Kentucky. Will it only help if the vehicle is totaled or stolen? Will the gap insurance help if we are trying to sell the car?

James

Newburg, KY

Yes, GAP insurance would only be of use if your car was found to be a total loss or if it was stolen and your primary insurance policy paid out actual cash value for the car. You cannot make use of your GAP insurance policy in Kentucky if you are upside-down on your loan and wish to sell the car.

Gap insurance is use to pay the difference between a covered insurance loss and the balance of your lease or loan. If you sell a car, this is not an insurance loss and therefore a claim with your Gap insurance company could not be placed.

Can you explain what a Guest PIP in Kentucky is?

Richie

Louisville, KY

Guest PIP is a type of coverage that must be bought if basic PIP has been rejected by the insured’s listed on an insurance policy. The state of Kentucky is a “choice no-fault” and this means that a driver can choose to insure their car under the tort system or the no fault system.

According to the Kentucky Department of Insurance representative, in Kentucky when you buy auto liability coverage you also buy PIP coverage for you, your family and guest passengers (choose the no-fault system).

Usually, guests are defined as those in your car that are not immediate family members. Normally, additional PIP is not afforded to a policy that includes Guest PIP coverage only.

I have a driver’s license in Kentucky, but I do not have a vehicle. I have been driving my brother’s car. He has car insurance, but I am not listed on the insurance policy as a driver. Can I still drive his car? What’s going to happen if I get involved in an accident?

Jean

Louisville, KY

If you are operating your brother’s vehicle with any kind of regularity, you should be listed on your brother’s policy as a driver. Otherwise, your brother runs the risk of having the insurance provider deny coverage for a claim if you get involved in an accident while using that vehicle. As a result you and your brother can be held accountable for that accident. If your brother does not add you to that policy as a driver, to protect your interests, you may consider buying a ‘named non owner’ insurance policy. This policy will provide coverage for liability,uninsured motorist, medical payments and coverages for someone who does not own a vehicle and will be operating a vehicle owned by someone else.

A: Yes, you can, although it will depend on the car insurance company you prefer as to whether or not this option is available from them. Most of the larger car insurance companies, and even some smaller local ones, have begun offering Auburn SR22 insurance online. You can find insurance this way pretty easily, by using quote sites and other online information in order to find the best company for you. So, not only is it possible to buy your insurance online, but it is in fact preferable, because you save more money if you buy insurance, or at the very least research it online.

Many car insurance companies are noticing the profit involved in selling car insurance online, and have begun to give out incentives to customers who choose to do so. Usually this is done in the form of online car insurance discounts, where you can get five to twenty percent off of your insurance policy if you choose to purchase your insurance online. Discounts like these are made possible by the fact that companies save a lot of money in the range of offices, labor, call centers, and so on by moving their services online and making them more accessible to internet users.

A: Many companies refuse to offer Kentucky SR22 insurance because it’s simply too risky, and so for those who must file it, looking for a company that does offer it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. While these companies may show up on the map less frequently or may be more expensive, this isn’t to say that it is impossible to become insured this way. You just have to know where to look.

You need to look for companies which claim to offer high risk insurance, because your SR22 falls into this category. By choosing these companies, you are more likely to be sold an insurance policy, since they sell them to most. If your driving record is really bad, though, you might be denied even by them.

But the road doesn’t end there. If you can’t take out a  SR22 policy from a high risk policy, you can go ahead and join the state assigned risk pool, where you will definitely get insured.

A: Since I can’t see your records with your car insurance company, I can’t tell you for sure, but I would say that it is very likely that the two are related, and it is also very legal. Although car insurance companies won’t do this every time you renew your policy, many do check your credit when you get a new policy and do so again once every one to three years. Companies who do this, and most do, are following the lead of companies which sell other types of insurance by using credit reports to compile an insurance risk score.

For those who have bad credit and are excellent drivers, it may seem more than a little unfair for them to be charged so much on their insurance for something they think is unrelated, but many 24 year old male drivers could say the same. What studies show, though, is that if you have bad credit, you will probably be filing a few car insurance claims. People with bad credit also have a history of, like you, defaulting on payments, and car insurance companies want customers they can be sure will pay them every month.

A: For people who don’t own cars, it is still often necessary for them to drive using cars borrowed from other people, and so even if they have had their license suspended, they may need a driver’s license in order to get around. SR22 insurance for non owner drivers exists for people in these situations, so that they have the option of reinstating their suspended driver’s license with an SR22 form the same way others who do own cars do.  The SR22 part means that driver was convicted of either driving without a license, driving drunk or under the influence of drugs or driving with a suspended license.  Any way you slice it, they are high risk drivers.

You can find SR22 insurance for non owner drivers practically any place which sells car insurance policies, and many companies even allow you to purchase your non owner policy online. Some companies may not sell a non owner policy because, since they don’t know what kind of car you will be driving, it is considered high risk.

With a SR22 insurance for non owner drivers policy, you will only be able to purchase the minimum no fault and liability insurance in KY. Your insurance will also only cover you when you are driving cars which are not registered in your own name.

A: If your SR22 insurance company has decided not to renew your policy, then they have to follow certain guidelines and cannot simply decide not to renew your policy for any reason whatsoever. If you believe that your car insurance company is not following the required guidelines, then you can take your concern to the Kentucky Office of Insurance to be reviewed, so that they can see whether your concerns have a base.

You have to make your request for review in writing, which can include filing it online as well. You cannot simply go to the office and ask them to review your case. You can, however, fax or mail or send your request in electronically. If you want it to be reviewed, then you must do so within fourteen days of the time you received notice that your SR22 insurance policy would not be renewed.

A: Since you have  car insurance, you have to pay more than the rest of us, but this also means you have a greater impetus to search out the best car insurance discounts. Never settle with a company that doesn’t have any good discounts available for you.

One discount for your which you should encounter universally is a good student discount, which is or those college and high school students who manage to achieve grades of either a B average or a 3.5 GPA or above, depending on the standards of your car insurance company.

Another thing student related which may apply to you is a discount for people whose home owns are far away from the college–usually 100+ miles. If this is how it is with you and your home own, you can leave your car there and say on your parents’ insurance policy instead of paying so much for your policy.