You started saving for your first car when you were only 13. After years of mowing lawns, babysitting, and working for minimum wage at the local corner market, you finally had enough money to do it. You purchased a shiny red (used) sports car from a friend of a friend only a few months after getting your California driver’s license.
Driving the car home, the police stopped you and you didn’t have any insurance on the car yet. Wow, you couldn’t believe there could be so many zeros on a ticket! And that wasn’t the worst of it. When you researched out to insurance companies afterwards, you found out that you were considered a “high risk driver.” Your insurance rates, they told you, are going to be sky-high for years to come. So much for riding easy! You now have to sell the sports car for a safe gray sedan just to afford minimum-coverage California auto insurance.
What is a High Risk Driver?
Most likely, one mistake won’t put you in the high risk insurance pool in California. However, your driving experience might. In most cases, high risk drivers fit into a few of these categories:
• having fewer than 3 years of driving experience
• having a DUI or DWI on your record (driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol)
• owning a rare or high-performance car
• making improvements to your car to make it faster
• receiving multiple speeding or other tickets (not parking tickets)
• being involved in multiple accidents, especially at-fault collisions
• filing multiple insurance claims
What is High Risk Insurance?
Insurance companies use algorithms to calculate the risk of insuring each driver. When the algorithms show a driver to be high risk, the driver is put into a special tier and rates rise accordingly. The more risk factors a driver has, the higher the rate will be.
You can lower your rate of high risk auto insurance by shopping around, lowering coverage amounts, and purchasing a safer car. After a few years pass without new violations, your rate will come down and you will be removed from the high risk tier.
Because we work with many insurance companies serving all types of drivers, AIS Insurance can help high risk drivers get the best rates possible on their auto insurance. Get an auto insurance quote from multiple insurance companies today.
The information in this article was obtained from various sources. This content is offered for educational purposes only and does not represent contractual agreements, nor is it intended to replace manuals or instructions provided by the manufacturer or the advice of a qualified professional. The definitions, terms and coverage in a given policy may be different than those suggested here and such policy will be governed by the language contained therein. No warranty or appropriateness for a specific purpose is expressed or implied.
