DUI offence and your Insurance
Did you know that having a conviction for a DUI offence affects your motor insurance coverage?
Most people think that a DUI is just a charge for being over the Breathalyzer limit. It is actually a criminal offence that is recorded against your character for which you have to pay a hefty fine or face imprisonment. A DUI offence also affects your insurability and in extreme cases involving accidental death to other road users, may result in you being disqualified as a driver.
It is an offence for anyone to drive or operate a motor vehicle whilst under the influence of alcohol or a drug. The legal limit is set at 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millimeters of breath in Trinidad & Tobago and anything over this is considered “driving under the influence”.
If you are convicted it is likely to affect your motor insurance coverage since most insurance policies no longer cover liability for accidents caused by persons whilst driving under the influence of drink or drug. What this means is that where a Comprehensive policy might have been issued to a driver that was eventually charged and convicted for a DUI Offence, the Insurer is within his rights to deny liability and will not pay for the cost of damages to your motor vehicle. Further to this, where there are damages involving other third parties, the insurer may be required by law to entertain those claims, but since you, the policyholder were in breach of the terms of the policy of insurance, the insurer would be legally entitled to take steps to recover all expenses incurred from you i.e. you can be sued by the insurer for the amount paid out in damages.
Aside from the jail time, expenses and loss of insurance benefits, you also run the risk of having your insurance policy cancelled by your insurer if you are involved in an accident whilst driving under the influence. If this happens, you would need to arrange alternative insurance, however, when proposing for the next insurance you are now required to disclose the DUI offence on the proposal form. This is likely to result in your proposal being declined, and where accepted, the premium is guaranteed to be substantially increased.
Seems like a lot of trouble and inconvenience for a small sacrifice, doesn’t it? Maybe you should think twice before you decide to drink and drive….
