I also understood that vehicles rated and insured under a commercial auto policy will not appear on this system because insurance companies are not providing this info on commercial policies. Has that changed? I have not heard that it has.
I wonder what law enforcement is doing when they get the illegal alien vehicles which have no insurance. Are they verifying immigration status of the owner and reporting them to ICE if illegal or doing nothing but fining? My guess, particularly in Houston or other sanctuary cities, nothing. These illegals buy clunkers for cash and drive them all year without insurance.
You are probably right about law enforcement doing nothing but fining the illegals. Even in the Tx panhandle, after an accident caused by an illegal alien–no insurance, no drivers license-the policeman was asked if he had intentions of calling immigration to arrest this illegal. The officer’s response was “I will not be around long enough to see if he drives off after the wreck and I will not call immigration”. The claimant called immigration and gave them his address. Hopefully, he was deported. But he was proably back within a month! Let’s secure our borders!!!!!!!
Vehicles covered under a commercial auto policy are not reported. Commercial carriers typically will not have the vehicle information to report, especially if they are writing large fleet/composite rated policies.
JR, they can’t get vehicles registered anymore in those “sanctuary cities” without a TDL and to get a TDL, you’ll need a social. Besides, whenever someone hits you and does damage…are you more interested in whether they are a legal resident and have a Texas Drivers License or, if they have insurance to pay for the damages?
My thoughts exactly Jim. People are floored when I tell them that you don’t have to have a DL in order to get insurance, and I just tell them “At least they have insurance, so if they hit you, you can at least get your vehicle fixed. Yes they are breaking the law because they are driving illegaly, but they are at least doning one thing right.
most important thing is due to the many drivers that don’t have insurance, it should behoove you to get UM coverage. how many folks have insurance but rejected that coverage? many folks are trying to save a buck or two, but fail to realize that an accident caused by another, can actually be not insured by eithe party. what makes this more appropriate to look at is, if that person is an illegal, then you will never see any money. then you are out of luck! otherwise you can possibly wait to go to court for others, but probably be forever to recover any money. this is why i always tell my customers, because what if! it only takes one accident.
Essentially what that data is saying, is that 1 in 5 cars on the road in Texas doesn’t have verifiable insurance… and your odds of being hit by someone without coverage are higher then that.
Buy the UM coverage. You’ll never regret it.
Here in NC it’s actually a mandatory coverage along with the liability. Of course it costs ~$10 for the minimum amount, so there’s not even a cost argument.
But the fact of the matter is that we shouldn’t HAVE to pay the extra premium for UM. If you are driving here in Texas, you are supposed to have liability insurance. I do carry it because I see the value in it, and I explain the value of having it to my insured’s and I use these numbers to show them the chance of them getting hit by a UM (thats including the people that exclude someone from the policy and that excluded driver still drives the vehicle anyway).
fact of the matter is that every state requires for folks to carry insurance… many folks decide that once they reg their vehicle, they drop insurance…saving money but only causing hardache… i like NC policy where if you have just a NC LIC you must have insurance whether you own a car or not! but there are too many folks in many states that drive w/o insurance.
I personally don’t mind paying the extra AP. I feel that the coverage is both to cover you from the chronically uninsured, and the temporary/unintentionally uninsured.
By temp/unintent insured, I mean those people who let their insurance lapse without realizing it due to some outside event such as a major health emergency, funeral, or other life events.
On a side note, our agency included it on every auto policy, even when it wasn’t required by law. Think of it as a protection for your E&O coverage. If your insured doesn’t have UM coverage, and they have an accident with a driver that failed to maintain coverage, what do you think their reaction would be when you tell them that their policy won’t respond? You can advise till you’re blue in the face, get signed waivers of coverage but remember that most Jurors view us as the “Evil Insurance Companies with Lots of Money”.
It sounds good in theory, but when you have the non-standard clients that don’t really understand the benefits of insurance, the ones that just carry it because they have to, you end up losing more business across the street that will quote them liability only (or the minimum your state allows). To address the “you never offered it to me!” problem, I have the insured sign a checklist that has the coverages they are getting and the coverages they are not, so I do not have an issue with “You never told me about this coverage” because I pull that paper out and say “Well you signed that I did, right here” and that shuts them down pretty quick. Its a shame that we have to do more to protect ourselves because people are so sue happy these days and they love to go for the deep pockets.
I also understood that vehicles rated and insured under a commercial auto policy will not appear on this system because insurance companies are not providing this info on commercial policies. Has that changed? I have not heard that it has.
I wonder what law enforcement is doing when they get the illegal alien vehicles which have no insurance. Are they verifying immigration status of the owner and reporting them to ICE if illegal or doing nothing but fining? My guess, particularly in Houston or other sanctuary cities, nothing. These illegals buy clunkers for cash and drive them all year without insurance.
You are probably right about law enforcement doing nothing but fining the illegals. Even in the Tx panhandle, after an accident caused by an illegal alien–no insurance, no drivers license-the policeman was asked if he had intentions of calling immigration to arrest this illegal. The officer’s response was “I will not be around long enough to see if he drives off after the wreck and I will not call immigration”. The claimant called immigration and gave them his address. Hopefully, he was deported. But he was proably back within a month! Let’s secure our borders!!!!!!!
Vehicles covered under a commercial auto policy are not reported. Commercial carriers typically will not have the vehicle information to report, especially if they are writing large fleet/composite rated policies.
JR, they can’t get vehicles registered anymore in those “sanctuary cities” without a TDL and to get a TDL, you’ll need a social. Besides, whenever someone hits you and does damage…are you more interested in whether they are a legal resident and have a Texas Drivers License or, if they have insurance to pay for the damages?
My thoughts exactly Jim. People are floored when I tell them that you don’t have to have a DL in order to get insurance, and I just tell them “At least they have insurance, so if they hit you, you can at least get your vehicle fixed. Yes they are breaking the law because they are driving illegaly, but they are at least doning one thing right.
most important thing is due to the many drivers that don’t have insurance, it should behoove you to get UM coverage. how many folks have insurance but rejected that coverage? many folks are trying to save a buck or two, but fail to realize that an accident caused by another, can actually be not insured by eithe party. what makes this more appropriate to look at is, if that person is an illegal, then you will never see any money. then you are out of luck! otherwise you can possibly wait to go to court for others, but probably be forever to recover any money. this is why i always tell my customers, because what if! it only takes one accident.
Essentially what that data is saying, is that 1 in 5 cars on the road in Texas doesn’t have verifiable insurance… and your odds of being hit by someone without coverage are higher then that.
Buy the UM coverage. You’ll never regret it.
Here in NC it’s actually a mandatory coverage along with the liability. Of course it costs ~$10 for the minimum amount, so there’s not even a cost argument.
But the fact of the matter is that we shouldn’t HAVE to pay the extra premium for UM. If you are driving here in Texas, you are supposed to have liability insurance. I do carry it because I see the value in it, and I explain the value of having it to my insured’s and I use these numbers to show them the chance of them getting hit by a UM (thats including the people that exclude someone from the policy and that excluded driver still drives the vehicle anyway).
fact of the matter is that every state requires for folks to carry insurance… many folks decide that once they reg their vehicle, they drop insurance…saving money but only causing hardache… i like NC policy where if you have just a NC LIC you must have insurance whether you own a car or not! but there are too many folks in many states that drive w/o insurance.
I personally don’t mind paying the extra AP. I feel that the coverage is both to cover you from the chronically uninsured, and the temporary/unintentionally uninsured.
By temp/unintent insured, I mean those people who let their insurance lapse without realizing it due to some outside event such as a major health emergency, funeral, or other life events.
On a side note, our agency included it on every auto policy, even when it wasn’t required by law. Think of it as a protection for your E&O coverage. If your insured doesn’t have UM coverage, and they have an accident with a driver that failed to maintain coverage, what do you think their reaction would be when you tell them that their policy won’t respond? You can advise till you’re blue in the face, get signed waivers of coverage but remember that most Jurors view us as the “Evil Insurance Companies with Lots of Money”.
It sounds good in theory, but when you have the non-standard clients that don’t really understand the benefits of insurance, the ones that just carry it because they have to, you end up losing more business across the street that will quote them liability only (or the minimum your state allows). To address the “you never offered it to me!” problem, I have the insured sign a checklist that has the coverages they are getting and the coverages they are not, so I do not have an issue with “You never told me about this coverage” because I pull that paper out and say “Well you signed that I did, right here” and that shuts them down pretty quick. Its a shame that we have to do more to protect ourselves because people are so sue happy these days and they love to go for the deep pockets.