Car insurance is a useful tool that offers protection to you, your vehicle, your finances, and also to those around you. You therefore need a good motor insurance plan when you drive your vehicle. There are however, some exclusions to vehicle insurance. You need to adhere to them in order to raise a claim. If not, your claim will be rejected. One of the major car insurance exclusions include drunk driving. Take a look at this article to know how an incident of drunk driving can impact your motor insurance policy.
Impacts of drunk driving on car insurance
- No compensation for own vehicle: You buy a car insurance plan so that you can get compensation when there’s an accident. You can use the compensation to fix the vehicle. However, if the accident happens because you were driving in a drunk state, the insurance provider will not honor your claim. You will therefore receive no help to get your car repaired.
- No legal costs provided: Road accidents often involve legal issues. You may need a lawyer to fight the case thrown at you. But if this happens after an episode of drunk driving, you won’t be able to make a claim for any legal expenses.
- No third-party liability: Third party car insurance is one of the most important components of any car plan. If you are responsible for an accident that causes harm to a third party or their property, you are liable to compensate the third party. Your insurance cover takes care of it and compensates the third party on your behalf. This will not happen if you drive while you are drunk.
- No medical compensation for self: Any standard comprehensive car insurance plan has provisions for medical covers. This means that if you get injured in a road accident, the plan will pay your hospital bills to an extent. This will not happen when you get injured because of drunk driving.
- No personal accident cover: Personal accident cover is an essential car insurance feature. Here, your family receives a death benefit if you die in a road accident. The personal accident cover is considered null and void if the accident is caused due to drunk driving.
- No use of add-on covers: When you buy vehicle insurance online, you get the option of buying some add-on covers. But no add-on cover will bail you out if you drive under the influence of alcohol.
- Financial loss: This is one of the biggest troubles you can face – you might end up losing huge amount of money. As you saw, you won’t stand to get any compensation. And everything from paying the legal costs to taking care of the third party car insurance liabilities, cost a lot of money. You have to pay every bill from your own pocket. This will lead to a huge financial loss.
- Legal trouble: Your drunk driving accident will leave you with a cancelled car insurance plan. You will therefore find yourself in legal trouble for driving your car without a valid car insurance policy in place.
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Conclusion
As you can clearly see from, drunk driving brings a lot of problems. It also has some terrible impact on car insurance. What’s the point of buying vehicle insurance online if you are not going to be able to enjoy its benefits. So, don’t get behind the wheel if you have had a few drinks. Don’t drink and drive. Respect the rules, follow the law, renew your car’s insurance policy from time to time, and drive safely.
