Uninsured motorists (Houston, San Antonio, El Paso: car insurance, inspection, live)

[Skeptical]

While the rate of uninsured motorists in Texas has dropped over the past few years, there are apparently still about 13% of the drivers who don't have adequate liability insurance. Since Texas requires proof of insurance to get your car inspected, how do people get around this? Also, if the number of uninsured motorists has dropped from 22% to 13%, shouldn't my the premiums for my coverage for uninsured motorists go down also? Over one hundred dollars every 6 months for uninsured motorist coverage seems pretty steep to me.

[Trainwreck20]

1) Don't get their car inspected, fake insurance, fake inspection stickers (or stolen), to name a few, but I don't really know.
2) Premiums go down if the rate of claims go down, not the number w/o insurance. While it seems like those would be the same, that is not necessarily the case.

[Dog_Gone]

Originally Posted by Skeptical

While the rate of uninsured motorists in Texas has dropped over the past few years, there are apparently still about 13% of the drivers who don't have adequate liability insurance. Since Texas requires proof of insurance to get your car inspected, how do people get around this? Also, if the number of uninsured motorists has dropped from 22% to 13%, shouldn't my the premiums for my coverage for uninsured motorists go down also? Over one hundred dollars every 6 months for uninsured motorist coverage seems pretty steep to me.

13% - 22% seems correct for the number of autos on the road with an inspection expired or registration expired or maybe both. This could equate to no insurance. I cant see that statistic on a windshield, but I can regarding inspection and registration. Look at the windshields of your peers vehicles when you are walking through a large parking lot.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by Skeptical

While the rate of uninsured motorists in Texas has dropped over the past few years, there are apparently still about 13% of the drivers who don't have adequate liability insurance. Since Texas requires proof of insurance to get your car inspected, how do people get around this? Also, if the number of uninsured motorists has dropped from 22% to 13%, shouldn't my the premiums for my coverage for uninsured motorists go down also? Over one hundred dollars every 6 months for uninsured motorist coverage seems pretty steep to me.

I saw the number 21% a few years back when the Texassure program started. Where did you see 13%?

[Skeptical]

I saw the statistics here:

Number of Uninsured Drivers on Texas Roads Drops

[TX75007]

People are getting their cars towed and there are fewer illegals in the state.

[hellpaso]

[quote=TX75007there are fewer illegals in the state.[/QUOTE]

I have had friends/acquaintances that didn't have car insurance, & still were able to obtain their registration. I also have had friends/acquaintances who have been able to receive full benefits from both state & federal agencies. I don't know how they do it, but believe me. Where there's a will, there's a way.

[LilyLady]

Originally Posted by Skeptical

While the rate of uninsured motorists in Texas has dropped over the past few years, there are apparently still about 13% of the drivers who don't have adequate liability insurance. Since Texas requires proof of insurance to get your car inspected, how do people get around this? Also, if the number of uninsured motorists has dropped from 22% to 13%, shouldn't my the premiums for my coverage for uninsured motorists go down also? Over one hundred dollars every 6 months for uninsured motorist coverage seems pretty steep to me.

When I lived in San Antonio, my premium was set at a particular amount. I moved out to a small town in west Texas and my monthly premium dropped drastically. When I moved to Houston, it went back up again. It was explained to me that part of the premium is also based on the number of claims filed, not so much on the number of uninsured motorists.

[hellpaso]

My car insurance also dropped when moving from El Paso to the RGV.

It always cracks me up when the local media gets all excited & trumpets the "news" that the insurance industry considers the RGV the "safest" place in the U.S. to drive since there are so few claims filed! I really don't know how they report that with a straight face!

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by Skeptical

I saw the statistics here:

Number of Uninsured Drivers on Texas Roads Drops

Thanks.

I found data from DPS here broken down by county:

TexasSure - News releases and stories


As a whole Texas has improved quite a lot in the past four years and I'm sure a lot of it has to do this this program. Over time this should reduce our uninsured motorist portions of coverage.....Hopefully. Pays to shop around every so often.

Only thing now is I think the liability minimums are too low. $30k for injury per person and up to $60k per accident? Don't know about you but I make $30k in less than a year and that amount doesn't go far with medical bills these days.