Obtaining Car Insurance for Drivers with Drunk Driving Convictions

Being convicted for a DUI or DWI offense can deal a life threatening blow to a driver’s insurability. Some companies will drop you immediately if you receive a drunk driving conviction, others will raise your rates considerably. If you’re trying to acquire insurance with such a mark on your record, you’ll find it can be very difficult or very expensive. There are, however, several ways to obtain car insurance for drivers with drunk driving convictions without completely draining your bank account.

It is important to understand that a DUI or DWI is a serious offense with rightfully serious ramifications. If there is an underlying problem that has led to multiple DUI/DWI arrests and convictions, getting car insurance should not be your primary concern. Getting help now is the only way to ensure that this is not going to happen again. However, statistics show that most people who receive a single conviction for drinking and driving are not necessarily alcoholics. These drivers are just people who made a bad decision while intoxicated. This is not intended to be dismissive of the situation, as this particular mistake often takes its toll in high property damage costs or innocent lives. Still, making that mistake once should not result in a person’s inability to be insured.

There are companies that specialize in providing car insurance for drivers with drunk driving convictions. Make no mistake; purchasing insurance from any company with a drunk driving conviction on your record will cost you more. This is a simple fact and there is no way around it. How much you pay, however, will be largely related to what insurance company you choose. As with shopping for anything, the best way to ensure you get the best deal is to compare and contrast the various insurance premium rates available.

The Internet is today’s best tool for this type of insurance comparison shopping. A large number of web sites exist specifically for the purpose of comparing the rates of different auto insurance providers. Visiting one of these sites will be your first step in finding car insurance in any situation. If you do not have access to the Internet, your choices do not become any more limited, just more difficult to ascertain as you’ll be calling a lot of insurance companies for quotes, a process that is made intentionally rather lengthy by some insurance companies. The Internet also allows you to specifically search for insurers that will deal with drivers who do have a DUI on their record, as opposed to calling insurance companies and beginning the process, only to be told after twenty minutes on the phone that the company will not insure you due to the DWI conviction. Obviously if you are calling for insurance quotes you will want to inform the representative about the DWI immediately for this reason.

You’ll also want to remember that, in many ways, time is on your side. A DWI conviction last year looks much worse to the insurance company than one from, say, ten years ago. In some cases you may not even have to inform the insurance company of your DWI record if the event occurred far enough in the past. You may want to consult an attorney to determine what the drunk driving laws and regulations are in your state.

Being convicted for the offense of driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol is something that should be avoided at all costs. The best way to avoid it is to never drive while under the influence. If you are caught, however, you should be thankful that no one was harmed (if that is the case) and that you still have options available to obtain automobile insurance.

[Common misspelled search words in this article: "drink driving"]