What Is the Penalty for Driving Without Auto Insurance?
Is it really a good idea to drive with minimum limits?
Want to buy something you can’t see, can’t touch and don’t know if you will ever use? Not a great incentive to buy, is it? However, that is what many people feel they are buying when they purchase an auto insurance policy.
At Capitol Insurance, we know that it’s fun to get a new car whether it is truly new or just new to you. It is never fun to buy intangible insurance. Sometimes it may be tempting to drive without insurance or with minimum limits for just a little and gamble that you won’t be in an accident. DON’T DO IT!! Let’s look at what might happen if you don’t have adequate auto insurance limits:
1. Legal
There are laws in every state that require you to carry minimum limits of liability insurance. That means your insurance will pay for any damage to other people or property that you may cause when driving your car. These may include, but are not limited to:
- Registration suspension
- Fine per vehicle from $150-$2,500
- Cost of a ticket issued by a police officer
2. Financial
Not carrying insurance or enough insurance puts your entire financial future at risk.
- Current Assets: any you have, whether cash, vehicles, contents or equity in your house may all be in jeopardy of what a judge, jury, attorney and surviving family members determine. You could lose it all.
- Financial Future: your entire ability to grow your future finances could be hampered. Your ability to be paying down debt, buying a newer vehicle you might need, or paying rent, your mortgage, or alimony are all at risk.
3. Emotional
How hard would it be to live with yourself knowing you were too cheap to carry insurance or adequate limits of insurance to provide for those you had injured due to your at fault actions? Whether it is a surviving spouse left without enough money to provide for children, or someone left disabled and unable to work, it would be difficult to know that you had left someone in that position and couldn’t even begin to make it right for them.
Risk Advisors at Capitol Insurance have the knowledge and experience to walk you through what the correct auto insurance limits are for you. Just for an idea, Indiana has a state minimum of $25,000/$50,000 and we refuse to sell less than $250,000/$500,000 to anyone who is purchasing auto insurance from us. We insist you carry 10 times more! Why? Certainly not to make a buck, because we could sell more policies at lower limits. We do it for you. We care about managing the risk you incur every time you step into your car.
So, what are you really buying when you buy an auto policy with adequate limits of coverage? You are buying protection for you and for others, so you have financial and emotional security. You are buying Peace of Mind. Contact one of our Risk Advisors at Capitol Insurance to use their expertise and knowledge to find an auto policy that is right for you and your future. Personal attention in an impersonal world.