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CAR INS. CANCELED?
By Chuck Wells
Here are some excuses I have
heard from people who let their car insurance cancel for
non-payment: “I came to your office on Sunday, the last day to
pay, and you were not open so it is your fault.” “I moved and
forgot to let you know so I did not get the bill.” “I gave the
money to my son to bring into you but he spent it.” “I don’t get
paid until the first of the month so you will have to wait.” “My
dog ate the bill.”
Ok, so it is after the holidays and all the bills are coming in
and you just can’t afford that car insurance bill. So what’s the
big deal? The insurance company will just reinstate me anyway,
right? Maybe. Maybe not.
For most car insurance policies, you get a first bill and if you
do not pay that, a second one stating that the policy will
cancel on a certain date. If the insurance company or its agent
does not RECEIVE the money before the cancellation date, the
policy automatically cancels and they do not have to reinstate
the policy. Keep in mind that car insurance policies cancel at
12:01 am so if you try to make the payment on the final day, it
is too late as the policy canceled one minute after midnight.
Most car insurance companies are now refusing to reinstate
policies as it has become so expensive to go through all the
paperwork and statistics are showing that people on cancellation
all the time have more claims than those who pay on time. In
other word, they don’t want late-payers. This is also reflected
in the new application process for car insurance where they will
now do a credit check on you before agreeing to insure you to
see how you pay your bills.
When your car insurance cancels, your insurance company sends a
computer message to the Department of Motor Vehicles and DMV
notifies you that you that you need to prove that you have
picked up new insurance or turn in your plates. If you do
nothing, DMV will charge you $8 per day fine for every day you
are without insurance whether you are driving the car or not. If
you keep plates on the car, the fine applies.
If you still do nothing, your registration and your license will
be suspended. DMV will only send you one warning before the
suspensions.
When you start a new policy, it will probably cost you more as
you have been without insurance and the new company thinks that
is bad news.
All of this said, what if you have an accident and don’t have
car insurance? Besides all the fines, you will be held
personally responsible for paying all the bills. If you don’t,
you may lose your license.
I AM IN DENIAL
Oxford Health Plans,
Inc. did a survey of American workers to see how healthy we are.
We flunked. One in five of us is GROSSLY obese, smokes and
drinks heavily, and never exercises. Of course, that is just
bull because those surveyed who ranked themselves in excellent
health (a 9 or 10 on a scale of 1 to 10), were at least 25
pounds overweight, smoked, drank three or more classes of
alcohol and four or more cups of coffee or tea each day, and
never exercised. The 10’s were also least likely to eat a
balanced breakfast, the most likely to eat fried foods and salty
snacks, sat at their desks the whole day, the most likely to
lose sleep over work, and consider themselves workaholics.
The U.S. Surgeon General (the person who wears Gen. Patton’s
uniform) has declared obesity to be an “epidemic” now so we must
be in big trouble. Congress, having nothing better to do, has
also introduced the Obesity Prevention and Treatment Act which
will legislate us to get off our lazy, fat, butts.
I have found that those who
survey us and tell us how unhealthy we are usually die before
the rest of us as they are so worried about our well-being.
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