DUI Car Insurance – Best Car Insurance After A DUI

Getting cheap DUI car insurance can be a pain. This is because insurance rates after a DUI or DWI always increase substantially and stay high for 3 years, making it difficult for drivers to find affordable coverage from good companies. Furthermore, if you’ve been charged with a DUI, there is also a good chance that state laws require you to carry special insurance and provide proof of this with an SR-22 or FR-44 form. But your life doesn’t have to come to a standstill with a DWI or DUI on record. Plenty of the best insurance companies cover DUI offenders, and while insurance may be 30% to 100% more than average, there are ways to lower rates.

Below, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about the different types of DUI auto insurance, how long a DUI will affect your insurance, how to shop around and find the best car insurance for a DUI, and the many ways you can save money on premiums. Ultimately, our goal is to help you get back on the road with the cheapest car insurance after a DUI.

How To Get Cheap DUI Car Insurance

After being charged with a DUI, it is common for your state to require you to carry specialized high-risk auto insurance coverage. If there’s one thing that can be said about DUI insurance, it’s that it is far more expensive than a typical policy.

Once you have a DUI on your record, insurance companies see you as a liability. In other words, insuring you comes at a significant risk, and the premium you were paying is likely to increase significantly. In some cases, your provider may even cancel coverage or drop you when it’s time to renew your policy.

You can obtain high-risk insurance through your current insurer if you choose, but you should be aware that even if your current company was previously giving you the best rate, that may no longer be the case. For this reason, if you are required to get insurance for a DUI, we recommend you check not only with your current provider, but also with numerous other companies.

You may find that another company offers a lower price for the same amount of coverage. Some carriers specialize in insuring high-risk drivers with bad records, while others increase their premiums until these risky drivers leave. Even if you have to switch companies, it is worth the savings to do so. Getting free quotes online from several insurance carriers is the best way to get cheap DUI car insurance.

Another important tip to remember when searching for the best car insurance after a DUI is to consider lowering your coverage limits. The amount of insurance you buy plays a big role in determining how much your insurance will cost, so many DUI drivers tend to get less coverage with higher deductibles to keep premiums low. Generally, getting cheap DUI car insurance in states like California, New York, and Florida means drivers must only buy enough liability coverage to meet state minimum requirements.

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How Much Does Insurance Go Up After A DUI?

If you’re wondering how much insurance rates increase after a DUI, here are a few examples of DUI rates. We compared pricing from the largest insurers – State Farm, Geico, Allstate, Progressive, and Farmers – for a 30 year old male driver with full coverage on a 2014 sedan. As you can see, the cost of insurance with a DUI on your record is very expensive.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that, because premiums vary by company, driving history and location due to state laws and requirements, some drivers may experience a bigger effect on their insurance than others.

DUI Insurance Rates By State

Here are average DUI insurance rates by state. You’ll notice that the cost of insurance coverage after a DUI increases by an average of about 82%, from $1,490 per year to $2,725 annually.

Cheapest Car Insurance After DUI

Although DUI premiums differ by state, age, gender, driving history, and vehicle type, it does seem that certain insurance companies raise rates less than others. Although your specific circumstances may be different, we found that State Farm, Progressive, and Allstate consistently offered the cheapest car insurance after a DUI. However, we still recommend drivers compare quotes from multiple companies in their area to ensure they get the best insurance for a DUI.

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Insurance After a DUI – Getting An SR-22 and FR-44

Buying car insurance for a DUI is costly, making it more important than ever to compare auto insurance quotes from multiple providers to get the best rates and coverage. But finding cheap DUI car insurance for high risk drivers isn’t as straightforward as shopping around.

In most states, you will need to provide the DMV with proof that you have obtained at least the minimum amount of coverage required to drive legally in your state. To do this, after you have selected and paid for DUI insurance, the insurer will send a form called an SR-22 or FR-44 to the DMV in your state. These are essentially forms that prove you have assumed the appropriate level of financial responsibility.

An SR-22 is a special filing attached to your policy in states other than Florida and Virginia. You can ask your insurance company to send the DMV an SR-22 when you purchase your high-risk policy, or you can purchase a non-owner’s SR-22 if you don’t own a vehicle.

A traditional SR-22 covers you when you drive your own car, but non-owner SR-22 insurance protects you when you borrow a car from family or friends, and in the event of an accident, your SR-22 non-owner’s insurance comes into play. Similarly, FR-44 forms are required only in Florida and Virginia, and it has an additional requirement that you must carry a minimum of $100,000 in liability coverage on your policy.

How Long Does A DUI Stay on Your Car Insurance?

Many drivers are curious as to how long they need to maintain their DUI car insurance and pay these higher rates. Most of the time, the laws in your state govern this. In most states a DUI will stay on your driving record for a period of about three years. And, as with most other traffic violations and convictions (including at-fault accidents), you can expect your insurance rates to remain high for at least 3 years.

In states like California, you cannot receive the standard 20% safe driver discount for a period of 10 years following a DUI conviction. Many other states require a DUI to remain on your driving record for a period of five to seven years, and your premiums will stay high during this time, even when you are no longer required to provide SR-22 or FR-44 forms to the state DMV.

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DUI Insurance Rates

The actual increase in your premiums varies substantially from state to state. In some, rates may only increase by about 12%, but in others, increases as high as 100% are common. Some of the highest increases occur in states like California, Arizona, Michigan, Florida, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Texas, while the lowest DUI insurance rates tend to occur in states like Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, Maryland, South Carolina and South Dakota.

When your insurer finds a DUI on your driving record, this information is used in a proprietary algorithm that determines risk. Even within the same state, different companies calculate risk and premiums differently. This is why it is always a good idea to shop around for cheap DUI car insurance, even if you have been with your current insurance company for many years. You may find that you can save hundreds of dollars by making a simple switch.

It is also important to consider that many of the biggest carriers may consider you un-insurable with a DUI, particularly if it is not your first offense. In fact, you may receive a notice of cancelled coverage from your current insurer after your DUI. It can be difficult in this case to find another provider, and many drivers rely on non-traditional insurance companies in this case. Unfortunately, because the risk is so great, premium increases are always substantial no matter where you end up.

When you are no longer required to carry high-risk DUI car insurance, there is no guarantee that your premiums will fall back to your pre-DUI rates, either. The insurance company will ultimately decide your premiums and the risk you impose afterward. Most people find that while their premiums drop significantly at this time, they do not fall as low as the rates they used to get before a DUI or DWI. Once you are no longer considered high-risk, it is a good idea to shop around again to find the best cheap auto insurance rates.

Get The Best Car Insurance After a DUI

A DUI is certainly expensive in many ways, especially when it comes to your auto insurance policy. Shopping around for the best car insurance after a DUI is by far the best way to find the lowest rates, regardless of your state. Make sure you compare the coverage and premiums offered by each company carefully before making a decision.