How much does a DUI affect Auto Insurance rates?

​How much does a DUI affect my auto insurance rate? 


     This case study pertains to how a DUI affects your auto insurance rate. This is a research project I've worked on in the last couple of weeks. What I did was look at actual auto insurance quotes that I have ran in the past several weeks. I compared that rate as it was versus adding a DUI onto it.


     I wanted to see whether if terminology makes a difference, of whether you're charged with a DUI, DWI, OMVI, OVI or any other such violations that involves operating a motor vehicle while being impaired. Did that make a difference in premium?


    I also wanted to find out how much your auto insurance rate is affected when you're able to have charges reduced to lesser violations. But the main focus of this case study was to see just how much in terms of a percentage increase getting a DUI will have to pay extra for car insurance.


How the study was done.

• I took every quote as I received it. I did not change anything about it other than adding a DUI onto their driving record.
• I compared the original premium to what the new premium was with a DUI included.
• Many drivers make plea deals on their charges and have the DUI reduced to a reckless operation violation. So I then compared the original premium to what the new premium was with a reckless operation charge included.
• I only used non-standard auto insurance companies (otherwise known as "high risk") who tend to go much easier on DUIs than most auto insurance companies do. So these results will be on the lower side. For someone who gets a DUI and stays with a company that is not high risk, the percentages would be considerably higher.
• I included all six states that I work in.
• Driving records were taken as is. Some had clean records. Some already started with bad records.
• The cost of requiring an SR22 filing was not considered because many of the drivers quoted already needed SR22's before adding the DUI. The cost of an SR 22 filing can range anywhere from $0-$100 per year. However, with most nonstandard companies, the cost of an SR 22 filing usually ranges between 20 and $50 per year.

The results:

• The overall average increase added to auto insurance premiums adding a DUI onto it comes out to 12.7%.

• The overall average increase adding a reckless violation to your record result in a  32.4% increase.

• Yes! You read that right. Insurance companies punish drivers much worse for having a reckless operation charge than they do for having a DUI.
• I tried to make other comparisons, such as starting with a clean driving record versus already having a bad record, and how much it affects the rates. However, once I started crunching the numbers, I saw that the numbers were all over the place. Therefore I couldn't draw any conclusions.
• However, one thing that is surprising .... One particular company did not charge a dime extra for having a DUI, if the driver started with a clean record. This was probably the most surprising thing I got out of the research.
• As far as the terminology of charges, it didn't make a bit of difference to the insurance companies. A DUI, DWI, OMVI, OVI or anything similar all came up the same as far as premium. So call it whatever you want. It doesn't matter to the insurance companies.
• Some states went a little harder on DUI's than others, but not much difference. The real significant differences were from company to company.

     Conclusions:


Be honest. I bet you thought that having a DUI would increase your auto insurance by much more than an average of 12.7%. I know I sure did. But that's because there's a lot of competition for the high-risk DUI market. That's why it's very important to shop around with multiple high risk companies in order to find the best rate.
After getting a DUI, it is very understandable why it benefits to have charges reduced to a reckless operation violation. It is a necessary evil sometimes in order to keep a DUI off of your criminal record. Unfortunately, it will hurt you as far as auto insurance is concerned.



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Video: How Your Driving Record Affects Auto Insurance Rates

​Video: How long do you have to have an SR22 in Ohio?

Video: Finding affordable Auto Insurance with a DUI