Drinking and Driving – Bad For Your Insurance?

Many people constantly believe that drinking and driving is an urban legend.  In other words, it’s like the idea of intoxicated driving exists, but there’s never been a concrete example of it happening in the “real world”.  That was what I was thinking my entire life.  That is, until a couple of months ago.  I got a call from my friend and he told me that one of our mutual friends just got into a serious car accident.  Naturally, I was shocked and wanted to know all of the details.  He went on to tell me that the other driver was intoxicated, driving through the streets drunk.  This sparked another reaction in me – one of anger.  Why did my friend have to pay for the ignorance shown by another person on the road?  And then, something else struck me – something that made me feel a little better about the “fairness” of the situation.  How did the person driving the car deal with the consequences of his actions?  In other words, how did he deal with the financial loss that his insurance would provide him with?

If you receive a DUI or get into an accident caused by drunk driving, the relationship with your insurance provider can be seriously frayed.  Here are few ways in which your insurance can affect you negatively after a car accident relating to drunk driving.

Firstly, let’s set the ground rule here and say that driving intoxicated is an illegal activity.  It’s completely and utterly against the law.  If you do receive a DUI, then your insurance will be suspended and will eventually become invalid.  So, you’re completely vulnerable to anything the universe can through at you.  Imagine you get into another accident right after you recover from your DUI charge.  In this case, you’d have to pay everyone’s medical bills involved, leading to the creation of a big hole in your wallet.  Moreover, you’ll be broke in no time.

I want to go back to the concept of medical expenses just for a second to talk about the other side of the coin.  Suppose you did get into a car accident and you’ve injured the person in the other car.   The other person will get full insurance coverage from his or her devis assurance auto provider along with compensation for any other miscellaneous expenses incurred.  When the person has recovered, their insurance provider will waste no time in quickly coming up and suing you for the damages faced by their client.  So, this is the situation you’ve got yourself into now – you will be responsible for paying off the medical expenses for everyone involved in the accident along with dealing with a lawsuit filed against you due to the damages faced by the third-parties involved.  It’s really not a fun situation to be in.

The last thing that needs to be talked about is the aspect of insurance renewal.  So suppose you tally up a DUI – this means that your entire driving record is completely erased and you start off as a new driver on the road.  However, this “fresh” start is also indicative of sky high insurance rates that you’ll have to face.  This means that for the first ten years or so, you’ll be paying off thousands of dollars to finally decrease your insurance rate by the 11th year.
So, to sum up pretty eloquently, just don’t drive intoxicated.  It’s never a good idea from a safety standpoint and it’s definitely not a good idea from an insurance standpoint, as your relationship with your assurance auto Montreal provider will greatly decline if you receive a DUI.  Make sure you drive safe and get a designated driver if you need to.