Crash Course: More drivers are going without insurance in down economy

The Wall Street Journal
More drivers are letting their car insurance lapse because of the sour economy, putting themselves and others at risk.

Several hundred thousand drivers dropped their insurance in the past year as the jobless rate climbed, estimates a study to be released soon by the Insurance Research Council, an industry-funded group.

Online agency Insurance.com says it also is seeing evidence recently of more uninsured motorists. It says that as many as 40 percent of callers following up on online applications had let their previous policies lapse, up from less than 10 percent a couple years ago.

*
* Story: What to do after an accident
*
*
Without a net

A slumping economy is putting more uninsured drivers on the road. Here’s how to protect yourself:

• Make sure you have extra coverage that compensates you if you’re hit by an uninsured motorist.

• Set your own liability insurance amount commensurate with your assets. This amount also helps determine the limit of your uninsured motorist coverage.

The trend is bad news for everybody on the road. If you’re hit by an uninsured motorist, you may have to sue to recover costs, and many uninsured motorists have few assets. You can protect yourself by carrying uninsured-motorist coverage — almost half of states require the added coverage — but this may boost your premium.

Even in good times, many Americans drive without insurance. The Insurance Research Council’s previous study, released in 2006, found that nearly 15 percent of drivers nationally were uninsured in 2004, up from about 13 percent in 1999. In some states, including Mississippi, California and Arizona, roughly a quarter of drivers weren’t insured.

Preliminary data from the council’s forthcoming study “indicate that a single percentage point increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a half-point increase in the percentage of uninsured drivers,” said David Corum, council vice president. The nation’s jobless rate was up two percentage points to 6.7 percent in November from a year earlier. The group estimates the number of uninsured motorists based on data from insurance claims.

Possibly adding to the problem is the fact that auto-insurance rates are rising again after a couple of years of flat or declining premiums. Premiums nationally rose 3.8 percent in November from a year ago, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index.

Agents say a growing number of customers are stripping down their auto-insurance policies, taking the absolute minimum level of liability coverage legally required to drive in their state.

“A good proportion of people on the road are either uninsured or underinsured, and so you have to protect yourself,” said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit group. “Your odds of being in an accident with an uninsured driver are substantial.”

Motorists driving without insurance also face risks. In a wreck, they could lose whatever assets they own in a court judgment. Also, driving without insurance is illegal in 48 states and the District of Columbia. The only states that don’t require insurance are New Hampshire and Wisconsin; these states require drivers to show proof of the financial ability to pay damages for liability.

Motorists who allow their policies to lapse for any reason also often must pay an initial 25 percent to 50 percent surcharge for a new policy. Insurance companies charge them more because they consider them irresponsible: Unlicensed and uninsured drivers are disproportionately involved in fatal accidents.