Do you drive? If you do, you need insurance. Even if you think you’re a safe and responsible driver, accidents happen. What’s more, if you need a DoD sticker on your car, you must provide you have the state’s minimum liability insurance levels to obtain the stickers. There are no exceptions!

Depending on your age and your driving record, automobile insurance can be quite expensive.  Nonetheless, you must have insurance.  I used to think there was no gray area here. That was, until recently. 

I’ve heard too many cases of uninsured Sailors turning to the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society for financial assistance either to pay a fine for lapsed insurance or to help cover the costs of an accident when they had no insurance. This has to stop.

While every state varies, Virginia (as an example) requires insurance carriers to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) when a person alters their insurance. If you let your insurance lapse, DMV is notified and if your vehicle is still registered, you incur a $500 fine for having an uninsured, registered vehicle (whether you are driving the vehicle or not). 

Remember, it’s the registration of the vehicle that is tied to your insurance, not the miles you drive. In addition, if you fail to maintain insurance, in addition to the fine, you could be required to then purchase SR-22 insurance (which is essentially high-risk insurance) for a period of three years.  The cost of SR-22 insurance is much higher than normal insurance.

Here’s what I suspect is happening. Some of you purchase vehicles that are not only expensive, but are expensive to insure. Again, depending on your age and driving record, there are cases where you can pay much more in insurance than the actual payment of the vehicle.

Some of you probably purchase a vehicle, purchase the insurance, register your vehicle and get your license plates, then obtain your DoD stickers, and then when all that is done, cancel the insurance because you can’t afford it (or worse, don’t wish to pay it). While I’m hoping none of you ever do this, I’m not naive enough to think none of you do.

Before any of you purchase a vehicle, there are some things you should do first:

Check with your insurance provider to see how much it will cost to insure the vehicle you want.

Do some research to learn what vehicles are the most affordable to insure.

Research those cars that are most susceptible to theft.

Create a budget and make sure you can afford both the vehicle loan and the insurance premiums.

Shipmates, insurance isn’t cheap.  It’s expensive enough if you’re under 21 with a clean driving record, but if you have some tickets or accidents on your record, the price of insurance can skyrocket, regardless of age or gender.  Nonetheless, you still have to maintain insurance to drive. 

Look at it like this. If you are involved in an accident that is your fault, and you have insurance, you are generally only liable for your deductible payment. That’s why you have insurance. If you don’t have insurance, you may (and probably will) be sued by the other driver.  If someone is hurt, the amount of money you could be liable for could easily cripple you financially. I wouldn’t recommend taking that gamble!

I truly believe anyone with a driver’s license knows the rules. You have to know the state’s insurance requirements when you take your drivers license exam. To willingly ignore the law and cancel your insurance is reprehensible behavior—you put yourself and others at great financial risk and no matter your financial situation, you can’t afford this.

My challenge to each of you is to carefully evaluate where you stand when it comes to insurance.  Generally speaking, the younger you are, the more insurance costs.  Why?  Because statistics prove younger drivers are less experienced and are more prone to tickets and accidents. That’s a clear fact. If you are a great driver, all you need to overcome is the age factor.  That will happen in time. 

One thing many of you probably don’t want to do is purchase a safe car that is cheap to insure.  Many of you prefer the flashy sports car or high-priced SUV that is extremely expensive to insure. When you’re young, purchasing an automobile can be a huge financial investment. 

My advice is to think beyond the appearance and focus on your true need, balancing it against your age, driving record, income, financial goals, and other financial needs.  I’m certainly not telling anyone what type of vehicle to purchase, but I will say that whatever you purchase, you need to have the financial ability to pay for the insurance premiums!

A final recommendation is you each need to understand the insurance minimum requirements for the state you live in.  Each base Pass and ID office conforms to the state rules that the base is located in. There are some big state-to-state differences.

If you don’t take the time to educate yourself, and make sure your insurance meets the state minimums, you could find yourself in a financial bind if you are in an accident. Don’t let that happen - know the law and I’ll say it again, if you drive you must have insurance!