Salem Driver Buys Cheap Car Insurance After Crash

By: Shannon Brown, Car Insurance Analyst
CheaperCarInsurance.com

n Salem, S.C. this past January, a man attempted to buy retroactive cheap car insurance. That is, he crashed his vehicle and then went and bought car insurance just an hour later. His hopes of being able to get retroactive payments for the damaged vehicle were dashed when he was rejected.

Robert Porter, age 24, was involved in an accident in his vehicle on January 15th, 2010. The police arrived on the scene and the young man filled out an accident report. He then went to an insurance company and purchased insurance on the already damaged car and placed a claim, saying that the crash had occurred during his coverage time.

Unfortunately for Porter, the police had the incident report which proved him wrong. Rather than receiving his claim of less than $1,000, he was arrested.

From Cheap Car Insurance Claim to Fraud Charges

Instead of getting his few hundred dollars, Porter was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $500, though this was dropped to $200 if he paid within 30 days. Instead of landing himself a small claim, he ended up with fraud on his rap sheet . . . probably not exactly what he had in mind.

Unfortunately, Robert Porter isn’t the only person driving without insurance. This can cause a number of problems including:

• Loss of a vehicle (stolen car can’t be replaced)
• Inability to pay medical fees in the event of causing an accident where someone else is injured
• Arrest and impounding of vehicle in some states

It’s not a good idea to be without car insurance. People have accidents every day and even minor ones can cause damage that insurance can pay for. In the event of a vehicle being stolen, it is usually very difficult to replace it. This is where cheap car insurance comes in particularly handy, when the costs are too high for the driver to pay alone.

Why Are People Skipping Car Insurance?

Studies show that the majority of those who don’t have car insurance are under the age of 25. There are several reasons they feel they don’t need to purchase the insurance:

• Car insurance premiums are too high
• They don’t feel that they will be in a serious accident
• Their wages don’t stretch far enough for car insurance

In many cases, young people prioritize their spending and opt for nights out with friends or other things they consider to be essentials instead of seeking out cheap car insurance. The consequences can be devastating when something happens and they are suddenly in the position of having to pay large sums of money.

Most uninsured drivers (about 5% of the population) won’t go as far as Porter and commit fraud, but this is on the rise. Uninsured drivers cause the car insurance rates to go up simply by not being covered, which, in turn, means more people will opt out of having insurance where possible. It’s not yet illegal in all states to drive an uninsured vehicle.

Posted: May 17, 2010