How Long Does a DWI Count Against Your insurance in Louisiana?

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In Louisiana, the standard laws surrounding driving while intoxicated cases are quite straightforward and set on the point. They offer up extensive and severe penalties on DWI offenders. Furthermore, with each DWI case, you're involved in, the penalties to be faced increase, in terms of its severity. However, apart from the set consequences of driving while intoxicated cases as provided by the state, there are other ramifications, you will face from other authorities and agencies. One of such agencies that have certain consequences upon a DWI charge and conviction, is your insurance company. Yes, a DWI charge can and will affect your insurance policies, just like your insurance plan will affect your DWI case. Many people don't know this, but having car insurance tends to help you in a DWI situation. For, under Louisiana laws, a driver in a DWI situation is likely to receive harsher punishments if he or she does not have car insurance. It is deemed highly important to maintain car insurance, as to act for legal and financial coverage in the event of a DWI situation. Hence, if the driver of a DWI charge does not have car insurance, the state of Louisiana deems the driver worthy of harsher punishments that will be enforced to the max. However, the crux of this article is how a DWI affects your car insurance and how long it will.

When your insurance company finds out about you being convicted of driving while intoxicated charge, there are certain consequences that will apply to you. Often times, people tend to try and hide this fact from their insurers, but this hardly works. Especially in Louisiana where your license is suspended upon your DWI incident and in order to reinstate it, you'll need an SR-22 from your insurers. And at the stage of requesting for the SR-22, i doubt you can keep hiding your DWI incident from your insurers. To this, it's pertinent to establish the consequence a DWI will have on your insurance before anything else. So here goes.

Consequences of a DWI on Your Insurance in Louisiana

• Loss of your Insurance: For many people convicted of a DWI, the first repercussion they face from their insurance company is a total cancellation of their insurance plan. People with DWI convictions often lose their insurance or they become ineligible for many car insurances. Furthermore, the loss of insurance comes with its own problems, as without insurance in Louisiana, you can't drive to work and any attempt to utilize your car will lead to violation of Louisiana insurance laws. So often times, persons convicted of a DWI desperately search for new insurance companies who are willing to take them, before seeking reinstatement of their driver's license.
• Skyrocketed Insurance rates: For insurance companies, there is huge relevance placed on assessing your risk level, and to do this, your driving record is of pertinence. However, upon a DWI conviction, your driving record becomes unclean per se and stained with a blemish. To the insurance companies, this blemish means your risk level is at a high- risk. Your insurance risk level being high is never a good thing, as it ultimately translates to high payment rates. Persons with high-risk levels pay a lot more money for car insurance than a person with a clean record normally would. So, if you have been convicted for DWI, you should expect higher insurance rates for the period your DWI will count. Also, if during that period, you, unfortunately, get into another accident or traffic infraction or any issue pertaining to driving while intoxicated, the insurance rates you thought were high will get way higher. This simply connotes that, the more times you have a driving while intoxicated issue, the more your insurance rates will increase.
• Stiffer Criminal Punishments: As earlier stated, having your car insured is far better for you when you, unfortunately, get into a DWI situation than when you don't have car insurance. This is because criminal penalties are far stiffer on those without insurance when they are in DWI situation. This is because of the coverage guaranteed when you have insurance. The aforesaid coverage includes legal and financial coverage for when there is a DWI situation.  Also, you are deemed to be a person who has exercised a sufficient level of common sense and good judgement, when you have your car insured.

Flowing from the above-stated consequences of driving while intoxicated on your insurance policies, it is proper we state how long it will continue to affect said insurance policies. First off, in most states in the united states, driving while intoxicated will count against your insurance for a period ranging from three to five years, while certain states like Massachusetts, it counts for as long as a decade. However, in the state of Louisiana, the number of years in which driving while intoxicated will stand against your insurance is five years. Hence, for a five year period, you would have to face the harsh implications of the consequences given above. However, you can remedy some aspects of the consequences by moving to an insurance company that will have you. Which is especially hard since most insurance companies won't take you if you've been involved in a DWI.

Conclusively, we should always be mindful of our alcohol intake at all times, especially when you know you're driving. It will save you a world of stress, has consequences for driving while intoxicated has a lot of stuff penalties and sanctions for offenders. Which also flows too other areas like your insurance, and as you can see above, the consequences of a DWI on your insurance is no joke. To this, upon any issue of a DWI scenario be it in Baton Rouge or Lafayette, you should first and foremost get a DWI or DUI attorney. A DWI attorney will have a lot more ways to aid you than you may know of, as they can aid to bring down your charges and provide other forms of legal aid.