First off, to be upfront – We have some of the cheapest car insurance rates in Ontario, Canada for people convicted of DUI related offenses (impaired, over 80, refuse breathalyzer). Call us for a quote. Our phone number is at the top of this page. You might be surprised at how low the rates are.
Hiding a DUI conviction from the insurance company
Consider this – You’ve been insured continuously with the same insurance company for the last ten years. No claims. No tickets. Clean driver. Then, one day, you made the mistake of getting behind the wheel after having one too many alcoholic drinks. As luck would have it, you go through a RIDE checkpoint and you blow over the limit. You get charged with a DUI-related offense, get convicted, and now it’s on your record.
What do you do?
You have a choice between two options:
- 1. You do the right thing and call to tell your insurance company what happened. If you do this, though, you run the risk of getting your car insurance policy cancelled or having the rate increase because of the DUI.
- 2. You don’t tell the insurance company. Hopefully they never find out and it doesn’t affect your car insurance rates.
Policy wordings:
Well, to help you along in your decision, you should consider your car insurance policy’s wordings (insuring agreement):
You agree to notify us promptly in writing of any significant change of which you are
aware in your status as a driver, owner or lessee of a described automobile. You also
agree to let us know of any change that might increase the risk of an incident or affect our
willingness to insure you at current rates.
You must promptly tell us of any change in information supplied in your original
application for insurance, such as additional drivers, or a change in the way a described
automobile is used.
DUI-decision
Does this make your decision easier now? According to the insuring agreement, you agree to tell the insurance company about any increase in risk to them. Being convicted of a serious offense does change your risk to the insurance company. Therefore, you MUST tell the insurance company about your DUI conviction; you’re legally required to do so.
Now, what happens if you don’t tell the insurance company about your DUI? Consider that most insurance companies in Ontario will not insure you with this type of conviction, it means that there would not be a policy in force had they known. Therefore, they would not cover any future claims either. So, if you get into an accident and the insurance company finds out that there is an alcohol-related conviction on your record that you should have told them about, the claim can and likely will be denied. This could be a huge loss for you; it’s not worth it.
Of course, every situation is different. Call us and we can confidentially discuss your situation.
