Most people know that a bad driving record can affect car insurance rates, but did you know that your driving history may affect your life insurance rates as well? That makes sense when you consider that life insurance companies basically gamble on how long you will live. People who are in excellent health, younger and lead healthy lifestyles are preferred by life insurance companies and this category of people pay the least premium. But what if you have traffic violations say, a ticket for speeding, or a DUI? How does this impact your life insurance?
Bad Driving Increases Your Death Risk
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an average 40,000 Americans die from car accidents each year. Car crashes are the number one killer of teenagers, taking about 3,000 lives each year. Nearly 5 million suffer car-related injuries every year which emergency visits to the hospital. Bad driving is associated with higher risk of death. Therefore, life insurance companies take a look at your driving history and any violation of traffic rules is considered to be a risk that may shorten your life and therefore, impact your life insurance rates. Different life insurance carriers adopt different criteria for viewing traffic indiscretions. If you have a traffic violation, it would be best to shop around for life insurance carriers who look at traffic violations more favorably than others. Online life insurance quote providers are a great way to get multiple life insurance quotes from reputed life insurance companies easily and instantly.
Bad Driving May Impact Life Insurance Rates
Many companies do not ask for details of your driving history on their application forms, but this does not mean that they are not factoring your driving record in their underwriting process. Life insurance companies can access this information from the State Department of Motor Vehicles. Since this information is easily available to them, it’s best to be honest and write down any traffic violations you have had, if required. Any misinformation on the application form is considered a criminal act and may disqualify you from getting a life insurance policy.
Can You Erase Your Traffic Violations?
In general, life insurance companies are favorable to people who have had no more than 3 moving violations in the last three years and no DUI has been issued in the last 5 years. Most life insurance carriers look at recent traffic violations, and not your complete history. If you have a minor violation you should look at ways you can get this dismissed from your record. If your state has provisions for you to erase a speeding ticket from your record by enrolling in a safety course, you may want to take advantage of these before applying for a life insurance policy.
However, if you have traffic offenses which cannot be erased immediately, don’t wait to purchase a life insurance policy. Living without life insurance coverage is not the kind of risk you would want to take, especially when it would traumatically affect your loved ones.
Getting Affordable Life Insurance despite a Driving Record
The best option would be to purchase a policy that is the most affordable and gives you the best coverage. You can then review the policy at a later time when your driving record looks better and get your old policy replaced with a new one that costs less.
Having a traffic violation may impact your life insurance rates, but need not prevent you from getting the best coverage you can at reasonable and affordable premiums. Online insurance quote providers have access to hundreds of reputable companies and can offer you unbiased life insurance quotes along with company ratings. Shopping around for multiple life insurance quotes through online life insurance providers is an easy and quick process. There are no obligations to purchase and the process of getting quotes is free. You can easily access quotes from life insurance carriers whose underwriting criteria are more favorable to traffic violations, compare these quotes and choose the best life insurance coverage for your family.
About AccuQuote:
AccuQuote is a leader in providing term life insurance quotes to people across the United States. In 1986 it began operating with a single goal: to make the process of buying term life insurance as easy as possible for its customers. Their experienced professionals consistently deliver the most affordable term insurance rates by comparing thousands of life insurance policies from dozens of top-rated carriers.
