By Thomas A. Arce, Licensed Michigan Independent Agent

There are basically 2 types of companies that write auto insurance in Michigan:

Standard Insurance companies and Non-standard insurance companies. Standard companies tend to be the most advertised and most recognized. State Farm, Allstate, AAA, Farmers, and Nationwide are some to name a few. These standard companies treat DUI convictions the harshest. In fact, standard companies will use your DUI against you for 5 years. Some standard companies begin this 5 year clock on your conviction date not the ticket date. In the first 3 years you will be either surcharged 6 to 8 insurance points or a 100% surcharge will be added. This in most cases will cause your policy to be cancelled or to expensive to afford.

Michigan also has Non-Standard Insurance companies also called high-risk auto insurance companies. These companies will write auto insurance for any driver, regardless of points, as long as that driver has a valid driver license that is not suspended or revoked, restricted is OK. Alcohol convictions are only used against you for 3 years with an insurance point surcharge of only 2 points. Plus, the 3 year clock begins the day your ticketed not your conviction date. This provides a valuable timetable allowing time to pass thereby diminishing the overall cost from insurance detection to the length of time you’re surcharged. For some that time can be reduced from 3 years down to 18 months or less.
In summary, the maximum time any standard insurance company will use your DUI against you in Michigan is 5 years. With Non-standard insurance companies it’s only 3 years. Non-standard insurance companies are among the best choices for drivers with alcohol conviction or problem driving records.

NOTE: Standard companies don’t always offer the best rates even if you’re a clean driver. If you have not shopped around for auto insurance in years you may be overpaying for insurance right now without even realizing it.

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