First Car Insurance

Plenty is being done to penalize uninsured drivers — or, rather, to keep drivers from being uninsured in the first place. Now, yes, sometimes it is hard to even think about paying car insurance premiums when money is tight and you are having a problem making mortgage payments, house payments, when it is hard to buy food for your family. But when you drive without insurance, you are putting both yourself and every other driver you ever pass at risk.

Recognizing this, most states are putting into place systems and/or legislation designed to keep drivers from being uninsured. For instance, your tags may get canceled if you lapse on your auto insurance policy, making it illegal to drive your vehicle. Doing this can lead to fines, jail time, and the suspension of your license.

There is also legislation in the works designed to create even harsher penalties for drivers who do not have insurance.

Drivers who are either uninsured or severely under insured cause a lot of problems. They are problematic for car insurance companies, of course — that almost goes without saying. But what the average consumer may not realize is that they are also a problem for drivers who do have insurance. The number of uninsured drivers in each state varies greatly; for example, in New Mexico, an astonishing twenty nine percent of all drivers are uninsured, while only one percent of the drivers in Massachusetts are uninsured. In theory, the latter sounds good, but the sheer number of uninsured drivers in the United States alone is not only staggering but scary — and the numbers are rising at an alarming rate, due to the still somewhat unstable state of the economy.

So what harm do these uninsured drivers pose? And what is being done about this problem?