Are You a Horrible Driver? High Risk Driver’s Insurance 101

Look, we get it: sometimes you just want to floor it. You shouldn’t. But you want to. If you’re a high speed, high risk driver, well… you should really stop that. But in the meantime, you’re still going to need insurance.

Who Needs High Risk Driver’s Insurance?

There’s a thing called “extreme speeding,” and if you know what that is (and you’ve gotten a ticket for it in the past), you probably need high risk driver’s insurance. High risk driver’s insurance is required if you:

• Were found speeding way, way over the limit (generally 20 MPH+).
• Were caught with a DUI (often repeatedly).
• Were responsible for a serious accident.

When you’re told to get high risk insurance, it’s often referred to as “SR-22 insurance.” But SR-22 is just the form that you need to prove to the court that you even have insurance.

What is High Risk Driver’s Insurance?

It’s expensive, is what it is. High risk driver’s insurance can be 10 times the cost or more of regular driver’s insurance because, well, you’re a high risk driver. And many auto insurance companies don’t want to insure high risk drivers at all. Instead of just saying “no,” they quote a very high fee.

There are things you can do to reduce the cost of high risk driver’s insurance. You can take driving classes, bundle it with other insurance policies, pay the policy on an annual (rather than monthly) basis, and ask for discounts (such as student or military discounts).

But realistically, there’s only one thing that makes high risk driver’s insurance affordable: waiting until you no longer need it. High risk driver’s insurance is usually only required for the first few years after an incident, so if you just wait to drive, you may be able to get normal insurance instead.

How to Get High Risk Insurance

Unfortunately, a lot of people aren’t in car-friendly areas and they need to drive. So what do you do? You need to call around to find an insurance company that handles high risk drivers, and then you need to get quotes. Be prepared for some extreme sticker shock: it’s really expensive.

If you had a DUI, you may be asked to get an ignition interlock: that’s the device that requires you to blow into it before the car starts, to make sure you haven’t been driving. That can reduce your rates, too.

Everyone makes mistakes, and some people are just bad drivers. If you need high risk insurance, you still have options. Just be prepared for them to be expensive ones.