Can you tell me the law in Georgia regarding SR22?

Mike

Atlanta GA

In the US alone, different states have various laws and regulations with regards to Driving under the Influence or DUI. In Georgia car insurance law, it is unlawful to have a vehicle without car insurance coverage. Permitting an individual without insurance operate a vehicle is likewise illegal.

In Georgia car insurance law, the minimum required liability coverage is as follows:

1. $25,000.00 for bodily injury liability per person per accident-

2. $50,000.00 . for bodily injury liability for two or more persons per accident

3.  $25,000.00 for property damage per accident

The law enforcement officer will request the driver to show proof of mandatory liability insurance. IDs or papers from the insurer have to be presented.

If the insurance has lapsed at the time of the accident, the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles will suspend the your drivers license until insurance policy has been renewed.

If you have been convicted of DUI, you will be required to get a special kind of car insurance called SR 22. This SR22 is a certificate that shows proof proof of financial responsibility of the driver. It’s an assurance that the driver will keep the minimum liability insurance coverage required by the state.

I moved from Alabama to Georgia and my car insurance rates increased! Why?

Henry

Atlanta GA

The state of Georgia and Alabama have both the same basic coverage of minimum Bodily Injury Liability limits of $25,000 per injured person up to a total of $50,000 per accident, and a minimum limit of $25,000 for Property Damage Liability per accident.

There are several reasons for Alabama and Georgia car insurance rates  variations. The first is that there are more population and drivers in the state of Georgia. Alabama had a population of a little over 4.6 million in 2007 while in Georgia they’d a population of 9.5 million. Because of the bigger population, so that means there are more accidents, especially fatalities, in GA than in AL.

The increase in Georgia car insurance rates may be due to the area that you live in. Car insurance is much more costly in cities due to the higher density of traffic, greater probability of theft and vandalism, and higher occurrence of fraud. When you relocated from a more countryside area of AL to a city area of GA your Car insurance rates would increase in part.

It’s been reported lately that there was a sudden increase in Georgia car insurance rates. Car insurance premiums have increased nearly seven percent on average because of new law that doesn’t demand insurance providers to have state approval before modifying car insurance rates.

Although some insurance providers in Georgia have increased their car insurance rates you may still find some auto insurance companies who’ve not changed their underwriting standards and premium rates. Additionally, some insurance providers have only minimally increased their car insurance rates while some have gone for that optimum car insurance rate increase. For this reason in Georgia you should look around for the best Georgia car insurance rates possible.

I live in Georgia, I just want to know how can I get my learner’s permit?

Lisa

Good Question Lisa

Fifteen year olds can apply for the learner’s permit with their parents or with their guardians. A teenager should still be in school or must show proof of graduation before they can get their learner’s permit. Before you can apply for the learner’s permit, you will need the following requirements to the local driver’s license office:

1. certified birth certificate or birth registration
2. certified court papers showing adoption or name change if applicable
3. social security card
4. certificate of attendance that is signed by an official at your school
5. your parent or guardian will need to sign permission for you to obtain the learners permit
6. payment of $10 license fee

You will also need to take the written and vision test. You may study the Georgia driver’s manual so you can learn more about traffic laws , safety, traffic signals and other rules on the road.

Once you get your permit, it will be valid for 24 months. You should avoid getting a ticket at that time because your permit may be suspended even if you pay the fine.

Goodluck!

MariCAR

How do I register my car in Georgia?

Tammy

Good Question.

It is highly recommended to register a car in the state of Georgia before processing a driver’s license. Your fist stop if you are new in the state is the driver’s license office. The vehicle must be registered within the 30 days of purchase or 30 days of residency and then you will need to reapply for a new tag every year. If you are registering a vehicle, applying for the title can be done with the same application.

You may call your county tax commissioner since Georgia counties varies in their requirements for registering vehicles.

Here are some documentations you will be needing to register your vehicle:

1. Valid Georgia driver’s license
2. valid out of state title or the certificate of origin of the manufacturer if the vehicle is new.
3. completed title application
4. proof of insurance. You will need a minimum liability insurance required in the state of Georgia.
5. proof that your car passed the emission test
6. fees and taxes.
7. If the vehicle that you are registering is not eligible for the titling in

Georgia, or if it comes from the area that does not need titling, the vehicle must be inspected prior to the registration by a tag agent or any law enforcement officer. Part of the inspection is verifying that the car is not stolen.

Goodluck!

MariCAR

As I addressed in the previous post, an SR22 form is something that needs to be filed by your auto insurance company with the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles after you have committed a drunk driving offense or some other offense that ends you with a suspended license. Now that you know what  insurance SR22 filing is, though, how do you go about getting it? It might be a little difficult for you, but it can be rather easily explained.

• Contact.

Get your insurance company on the line and talk with your agent. Tell them you have a suspended license and inquire if they can help you with getting an SR22 form set up so that you can restore your driving privileges.

This is where you might run into some hang ups. Just because you need SR22 insurance, doesn’t mean that your insurance company is going to provide you with it. You may find your renewal of insurance denied if you are at the end of your six month period, or you’ll see your insurance policy outright canceled. Unfortunately, if it’s going to happen you can’t avoid it, but you can start looking at other Georgia auto insurance companies and set yourself up with a new company.

• Get a new quote.

Once you are required to file SR22 insurance with your  insurance company, you are no longer the same customer as before. Now that you are part of a higher risk group, you will need a new quote appropriate to your rating, and that is only if your Duluth GA automotive insurance company decides to keep you on board.

You have the best chance at getting a good rate and staying with your insurance company if you had a good track record with them in the first place. Many preferred and long time customers get DUI convictions and don’t see their insurance rates go up even a dollar.

• Decide on your coverage.

As when you get any car insurance policy, you will need to choose your coverage. Collision will be through the roof if you have to file SR22, so avoid it unless you’re still purchasing your car and thus have no choice.

insurance law only requires that you get the minimum liability coverage for your SR22 policy, so unless you have no other option, I suggest you go with that. SR22 filing.

Once you have made your down payment or paid your first premium bill, you will need to get your SR22 form. Your insurance company will provide you with this, and every one has its own way. With some, you’ll be able to access it online, and with others you’ll have to wait for it in the mail. Once it arrives, fill it out and turn it in to the DMV.

When you get into an accident with an uninsured driver, then your minimum liability automobile insurance policy will not help you in the least towards your damages. In order to be covered in such an incident, you need to have uninsured motorist coverage.

As I’ve mentioned, the requirements for bodily injury liability under Georgia auto insurance law are pretty low, so in a bad accident it wouldn’t be too hard for the actual medical costs to go way over the amount of insurance that this person has. This is why under insured motorist coverage is also very necessary.

If a person only has twenty five thousand in bodily injury liability, and the damages are thirty thousand, then their car insurance company will pay for the first amount, and your own will pay for the remaining five thousand dollars. Depending on where you are at, the way this is handled could be different. For example, if  insurance law requires that under insured motorist coverage be added on, then it will happen much like this:

If your under insured motorist coverage is for, say sixty thousand dollars, and their bodily injury liability is twenty five thousand dollars, then the two amounts will be put together to make eighty five thousand dollars, and that will be your coverage.

However, in other areas they deduct. If this is the case with you, the with the above coverages, you would only have the sixty thousand dollars of coverage.

As for uninsured motorist coverage, it covers bodily injury as well, although there is no additional coverage to be added to it. If you want your damages to be fixed, then you should have collision coverage.

If there is more than one car on your insurance policy, then you can add more to your coverage by stacking your policies. So, instead of having sixty thousand dollars of coverage, you would have a hundred and twenty thousand.

If you don’t have the patience to read my post, then check out this video from YouTube about gap insurance. It does a pretty good job at explaining why you may need to add gap insurance coverage to your Georgia car insurance policy. If you’re still confused, let me break it down for you.

• Gap insurance is…

Gap insurance is the type of coverage that you add to your  car insurance policy to fill the gap between the actual cash value of your car and the amount that you actually owe on it. When you total your car, the amount that you own on it isn’t taken into mind when calculating what your claim payment will be, so this can be very important.

Right now I’m making payments on a 2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser. We owe about $16,500 on the car right now, but it’s only worth around $12,000. If we were to total that car today and we didn’t have gap insurance, then after our claim payment came through, we would be without a car and we would still owe over four thousand dollars on our car.

• Who requires it?

Gap insurance is only necessary to add to your  insurance coverage if you’re still making payments on a car. Most of the time, your financer or car dealership will require you to purchase gap insurance much like they require you to purchase comprehensive or collision insurance on your new vehicle. They do this to protect their investment.

In order to buy gap insurance, your insurance policy must already have collision and comprehensive coverage on it. You cannot purchase gap insurance otherwise.

The reason why people need gap insurance is because, unless you put a sizable down payment on a new car, then in the time soon after you have bought it you will be in an upside down loan, which means that you will owe more than the car is worth. This happens because new cars depreciate very rapidly.

Should I add comprehensive and collision coverage to my Georgia auto insurance policy? What is it anyway?

Gloria

Thank you for your question, Gloria.

Whether or not you add comprehensive and collision coverage to your Georgia auto insurance policy should depend on several factors. Before we cover those, though, let’s first look at what comprehensive and collision coverage are.

• Comprehensive coverage is…

Comprehensive coverage is the kind of coverage that takes care of damages that result from things that aren’t automobile accidents. For example, if you were living in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina, then any flood damage caused to your car would fall under your comprehensive coverage. This is because comprehensive coverage takes care of damage resulting from natural disasters.

It also takes care of damage that results from criminal activity. For example, if your car is stolen, then it will be replaced if you have comprehensive coverage. If your car is vandalized, then it will be repaired under your comprehensive coverage portion of your insurance policy.

• Collision coverage is…

Collision coverage is like property damage liability, except that instead of being for the person on the other end of your auto insurance accident, collision coverage takes care of damage caused to your own vehicle. This includes repairs if your vehicle is simply damaged, and the actual cash value if your vehicle is totaled.

Collision coverage also applies when you get into an accident that involves your own property. If you’re parked backwards in your driveway, say, and you put your car in reverse instead of drive by accident, and as a result back into your garage, then the damage to your garage and your car will be covered by your collision coverage.

• Why you need them (or don’t)…

Collision and comprehensive coverage can be very useful when you get into an accident or have your car stolen, but not every vehicle needs it. One of the quickest ways to cut the costs on your insurance premium is to drop your extra coverage, after all.

If you have a car that is old and not worth more than a thousand dollars, then you do not need comprehensive and collision auto insurance coverage. You will end up paying more for the coverage than your car is actually worth, and there’s no point in that.

If you are still buying a car, then you are probably required to have comprehensive and collision coverage. If you don’t, then you could end up paying for a vehicle that you no longer have if your car ends up totaled.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

I get so mixed up with my auto insurance. I have so many bills to pay each month and I just don’t have time to figure out how to lower my premium. What can I do?

Jack in Atlanta Georgia

Thank you for asking, Jack.

You know, there is actually a way that you can kill two bird with one stone, and lower the stress of multiple bills while also lowering your  auto insurance premium. This is pretty simple to do, and might take a few minutes of your time, but it will be extremely valuable in your future.

The key to a cheap, stress less, Atlanta Georgia auto insurance rate is to

• Combine, combine, combine!

The first thing you need to do, Jack, if look at each of the insurance companies that you are with, not just your auto insurance company. What kind of insurance do they offer? Many companies will offer life, home owner’s, and auto insurance, while some will only offer one kind of insurance. If you have the latter type holding your policies, then you need to ditch them and find a company that offers more.

Once you have decided on a good auto insurance company that also offers other types of insurance, you should buy all of your insurance policies through them. Not only will you essentially consolidate your insurance bills, making them easier to keep track of, but you will also lower your premium through the multiple policy discount that most companies offer.

• Join, join, join!

You don’t have to go it alone on your  insurance premium if you have another choice. If you have a fiancée, why not combine your policies into one  insurance policy? Same with a wife, or a roommate, or even a good friend. By adding someone else to your policy, you can save a lot of money on your  auto insurance premium, especially if that person is lower risk than you are.

Raise your deductible amount to $1,000. If you are a safe driver and have not had any accidents or claims in the last 5 years raising your deductible could be a super easy way to lower your annual premium.  Remember, you only pay the deductible amount when you file a claim with your insurance company and they pay that claim.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

To meet the minimum requirements for auto insurance in Georgia, you are required to have liability coverage. This type of coverage will take care of medical costs and property damage for the person to whom you cause damage in an accident which is your fault. You have to have:

• $25,000 of bodily injury coverage for each individual
• $50,000 cap for each accident if there is more than one person
• $25,000 for damage to property, such as a vehicle or a fence

These are the required amounts, but most companies that sell auto insurance in Georgia suggest that you stack on a little more than this amount of insurance, and the most commonly suggested amount is 100/300/100. You should remember when buying liability coverage for bodily injury that the two amounts do not combine. If you have fifty thousand of coverage for more than one person, then that is all that you get for a single accident, even if four people are injured. If only one person is injure, all they get is twenty five thousand. Considering the cost of medical bills in bad accidents, it makes sense to get more than that amount.

You need to have auto insurance, because the Georgia department of insurance can tell when you don’t. As a matter of fact, they have an online insurance verification system that keeps track of the insured and uninsured in the state. You can check your own status online to make sure that there aren’t any mistakes, although if you have only recently gotten a policy you should let a month pass before checking because it takes time.

If you go without auto insurance for 10 days or more, then your registration could be suspended. You would then have to pay $85 to restore. And although your auto insurance  can be verified online, you should still carry an insurance card in your vehicle for when you get pulled over.

If you want to lower your annual premiums, try raising your deductible amount to something like $1,000 or more.  You only pay when you file a claim with your insurance carrier and the savings over the long term could be substantial.