What to Do When You Make a Late Auto Insurance Premium Payment

What should you do if your auto insurance premium payment is late? How does a late premium payment for car insurance affect auto insurance rates?

Imagine yourself enjoying a weekend with your family and then suddenly realizing that you have completely forgotten to pay your car insurance premium. Before having panic attacks, it is important to remember that there are many people in America who forget to pay their bills. A person is responsible for many important things such as rent and cell phone bill, utilities, car, car bills, insurances, and other expenses. It’s not unusual for someone to forget to pay one of these bills. It doesn’t matter whether you completely forgot about your automobile insurance bill, or simply didn’t have the money to pay it. This can lead to serious consequences if the situation is not rectified immediately.

Many people mistakenly believe that late payments to automobile insurance companies will result in a late fee. This is false as some insurance companies are very strict with late payments. While some companies may threaten to cancel your policy, others will actually honor it. This is evident when you fail to pay your premium on time. While they won’t cancel your policy immediately, the insurance company can give you a “non renewal notice” which will tell you that the company will not accept you for insurance again at the end of the current year. This will mean that you’ll need to find insurance with another car insurance carrier.

A second consequence of not paying your insurance on time is that they will only allow you renew your policy if you have paid the entire term. This means that you will not be able to get a monthly bill nor are you required to pay premiums. Instead, you will have to pay the entire amount at year’s beginning. You can try to find insurance with another company if you don’t have the money to renew your policy. You should also remember that late payments can be applied to insurance policies with other companies. They may ask you to pay the full amount before you are granted coverage.

Most people don’t know that insurance companies have a record of past policyholders and their actions toward the company. While you may get discounts from other insurance companies if your customer service record is good, late payments and other issues can cause other companies to raise your rates or even deny coverage.

The worst thing about not paying your insurance payments on time is that your policy will be cancelled immediately. You won’t be able to find out the status of your policy if this happens until you get literature, a call or a check returned in the mail. Because some companies use the check to pay your balance, you won’t always receive a check back. These are good ways to find out if your insurance policy was canceled.

Imagine that you are driving along the highway and an officer pulls you over. You give your card to the officer when they ask for insurance. You could face heavy fines or even jail time depending on the state regulations. Imagine what could happen in case of an accident. It seems like everything will be fine. However, when you tell your insurance company the bad news, they inform you that your policy was cancelled before the accident. You will end up with a totaled vehicle and must pay for the damages of the other person.

These are the terrible consequences of late payments even if they seem innocent. It is best to notify your insurance company about the late payment. Some companies allow you to pay your bill over the phone by calling them immediately.

There are so many bills to pay each month, and the stress that American families live, it is important to keep a calendar. You can also schedule automatic payments from your checking account via direct deposit. This will allow you to avoid paying late car insurance payments, which can be very costly and can also help prevent other debts that could damage your credit in the future.