Here’s another little secret for you SR 22 insurance and higher-risk drivers:
Most ordinary car insurance agents don’t get SR22 car insurance. They just don’t do it enough.
But the higher risk car insurance market is a very specialized one.
If you’re in the “bad driver” category, you need a specialist.
At this point, your old neighborhood agent or call center worker with a giant insurance company probably doesn’t have the training or expertise to handle your situation. You need an agent who specializes in the “impaired risk,” SR22 car insurance clientele.
Lots of them are great guys and gals! We hire them all the time from other brokers! There’s a steep learning curve, and new agents require a lot of training and education before they’re fully equipped to advise drivers with mandatory SR22s, DUI and DWI histories, reckless driving convictions, and other marks on their driving record.
Look, you don’t necessarily want your family general practitioner doing brain surgery. And you probably don’t want your local insurance agent in your local strip mall handling your car insurance after getting a DUI/DWI, or getting your license suspended.
Most neighborhood insurance agents don’t have the specialized knowledge it takes to look out for your best interests after a DUI/DUI. They aren’t set up in the ALEERS system, which allows us to file documents electronically with DMVs all over the country. They aren’t familiar with all the different hoops you need to jump through to get your suspended license reinstated, or limit the damage from an out-of-state citation.
At this point, your old neighborhood agent or call center worker with a giant insurance company probably doesn’t have the training or expertise to handle your situation. You need an agent who specializes in the “impaired risk,” SR22 car insurance clientele.
What to look for in an SR 22 insurance agent:
- Common courtesy. You deserve an agent who doesn’t talk down to you or treat you like a second-class client just because you made a mistake and got a DUI. Too many insurance carriers regard SR22 drivers as “trash business.” They don’t want you, and they do their best to get your business off their desk and make you go away. With us, you’re our “bread and butter” client.
- Access to dozens of different car insurance carriers. So they can ‘shop’ your application to many different carriers and match you with the very best one. That means you’re working with an independent insurance broker, not a captive agent.
- Licensed in lots of states. Here’s why that’s important: If you were out of state when you got your DUI, your agent may be able to help you quarantine the damage from you DUI to that state. For example, we may be able to get you an SR 22 insurance non-owner policy in that state, from a different company, and prevent the incident from affecting your primary insurance coverage.If they aren’t licensed in the state where you got your DUI, that option won’t be available to them. And if they don’t specialize in the high-risk auto insurance market, they may not even know about that strategy.
- Electronically Connected to DMVs. All our agents at Select have access to the ALEERS system. That’s a data communications network that allows us to file SR22s, waiver packets, and other documents electronically, directly with the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Why is that important? Because when you’ve got a license suspended because you got cited for a DUI – (not even convicted! About 2/3rds of states can and do suspend your license as soon as you’re even cited!) you can’t drive until your state acknowledges receipt of an SR22 filing from your insurance agent.Because we can file directly with the state DMV via the ALEERS system, we are frequently able to save days off the process. That means you can get back on the road and get back to work that much sooner.
- A path forward. Most agents who don’t focus on the high-risk market don’t understand how to guide SR22 drivers out of the high-risk system and back to normal status. For example, most will happily auto-renew your coverage every six months without shopping your application around to different carriers. But each carrier in the high-risk market underwrites risk very differently. For example, some carriers drop rates substantially once a driver has a clean record six months or a year after a DUI conviction – especially if you have good credit, live in a good Zip code, or have other things going for you.Experienced high-risk agents have the knowledge to work with you to get your license reinstated, limit the damage to your primary insurance policy if you were cited out of state, save you money by using “non-owner” policies as needed, and help you shop around so that you aren’t paying elevated high-risk insurance premiums any longer than necessary.
Look. Your old agent in the strip mall near your grocery store is probably a great person. But if they don’t focus specifically on the high-risk, SR 22 car insurance market every day, or if they are captive to one carrier and can’t switch carriers to get you better coverage or a lower rate even if they wanted to, they simply aren’t the best match for your car insurance business anymore.
As they said in the great movie, “The Godfather,” it’s not personal. Just business.
If you’re under an SR 22 insurance mandate, or if you’ve had some accidents, moving violations, or other problems, do yourself a favor and call a specialist. Dial (855) 438-7353, and ask to speak with an agent.
