5 Unexpected Ways to Drive Up Car Insurance
August 1, 2010 · Tagged with Insurance
Most drivers know their car insurance premiums will increase if they drive recklessly, cause an at-fault accident or receive too many speeding tickets. But many cautious policyholders don’t realize that other activities, such as texting while driving, can also cause their premiums to rise.
Auto insurance companies are paying close attention to the everyday factors that cause people to get into wrecks, says Robert U’Ren, senior vice president of Quality Planning Corp., a San Francisco company that helps auto insurers to validate information for underwriting policies.
Anything a person does that distracts him while driving, from reading a text message to drinking coffee, increases the chance that he could get into an accident and makes him riskier to insure, says U’Ren. “If the driver does get into an accident as a result of his behavior, his next policy renewal would reflect it.”
Experts say the following five activities could bump up the car insurance rates of unwitting drivers.
1. Texting While Driving
Oprah Winfrey’s recent “No Phone Zone” campaign established a goal of getting drivers to stop texting and using cell phones while driving. But in many places, it is more than a media campaign, it’s the law.
At least 25 states have regulations banning drivers from texting while operating a vehicle, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association in Washington, D.C. The statutes often go beyond mobile phones and apply to any portable machine capable of accessing the Internet or sending and receiving electronic messages.
Drivers who are caught violating the law could get a citation. And once someone receives a traffic ticket, even if no accident occurs, his car insurance premiums could increase as a result, says Dick Luedke, a spokesman for State Farm Insurance in Bloomington, Ill.
Even worse, if an accident occurs and it is determined that the driver was texting, that person could face more severe charges, such as reckless driving, or eventually time in jail.
2. Not Wearing a Seat Belt
Many states have “click it or ticket” initiatives designed to motivate drivers and passengers to wear safety restraints, especially if they are riding with children.
Seat-belt enforcement is generally divided into primary and secondary categories. States with primary enforcement laws allow officers to ticket individuals for not wearing their seat belts, even if no other traffic offense has occurred, says Luedke.
Other states have secondary seat belt laws. In those jurisdictions, officers can still ticket offenders for not wearing their seat belts, but only if another traffic offense has occurred.
In either case, if a driver gets a citation for not using a seat belt, it could make him look “riskier” to his car insurance company, says Luedke. His premiums could increase at renewal.