I’m twenty four and have to do SR-22 filing on my car insurance. How do I manage this without paying too much?

Abby

Thank you for your question, Abby.

One good step towards getting a cheaper price for your SR-22 filing is modifying the car you drive to fit the needs of your car insurance company. There is a certain kind of car that is ideal to car insurance companies. It is a safe car that is medium sized and a few years old. Avoid large vehicles such as SUVs, which may be safe for you but cause a lot of damage–and the one thing that you really want to minimize in your car insurance company’s eyes if you have a DUI conviction is the damage that you could possibly cause to other people.

It also might be a good idea to stick to being on your parent’s car insurance policy. While this might not be an attractive decision for you as someone who is probably fully out on her own at the age of twenty four, the more people you have on a policy the cheaper a price you have to pay for your premium. So long as you paid your end of the bill, your being on it wouldn’t do them any harm.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

How do I get SR 22 filing for my car insurance?

Andy

Thank you for asking, Andy.

First things first, you have to find a car insurance company that provides its policy holders with SR 22 filing if needed. These companies can sometimes be hard to find because many companies do not like to insure people who are part of high risk groups. However, there are many large national companies, such as Progressive, which offer high risk policies such as SR 22 filing car insurance.

Once you find a company that does SR 22 filing, and you make your first payment, the car insurance company asks for an SR 22 filing certificate from the state, a request which arrives to the secretary of the state. Normally this takes about a month, during which time you can get in trouble and be unable to drive because you do not have SR 22 filing with your car insurance. However, there are many car insurance companies now that issue SR 22 car insurance over the internet and for the most part this wait has been eliminated.

The fastest kind of SR 22 car insurance you can get often takes as little as two days, and can be done through a car insurance company or through the Texas department of insurance itself. Once the two day period is over and the certificate is sent, the applicant for the SR 22 filing car insurance will get an SR 22 form. If there is a lapse in payment, then an SR 26 form will be submitted by the car insurance company and the driver’s license of the former policy holder can be suspended again.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Getting a good deal on SR-22 car insurance doesn’t have to be bad enough to make you hallucinate like in this weird but funny video. The car insurance world can seem alien and confusing to navigate, but it is entirely possible, and even more necessary once you have to do SR-22 filing for your car insurance since the cost is much greater in this situation. In order to cut your costs in the quickest and most painless way possible, the first thing you should do is consider your current coverage and think seriously about whether or not you really need as much as you currently have.

How do you know how much coverage you need? Well, some people go into the car insurance office and simply say pile me up with the works. I know I did it before, a long time ago–except I said, give me what I can’t not have. The first step, then, is to figure out what kind of car insurance you are required to have in your state. Some states may require only liability, while others add on such things as uninsured motorist coverage and personal injury protection. Since you’re SR-22 filing, then you cannot have any less than this.

When it comes to things like the rest of the kinds of coverage, you need to consider the worth of your car. It’s pretty easy, now. If your car is worth less than a thousand dollars, then you don’t need things like comprehensive or collision coverage. Cutting down to the minimum level of car insurance can cut a big chunk out of your car insurance premium.

How long does it take to go through with all of my SR-22 filing in Texas?

Rick

That is an excellent question, Rick.

SR-22 filing has often been a drawn out procedure, involving getting on the phone with your car insurance company and requesting the form, and then possibly waiting for it to come in the mail, or become available on your car insurance company’s web page for your personal account. Overall, your limbo between getting your driver’s license suspended and getting it reinstated could be as long as two or three weeks while you waited for the relevant information to come in the mail.

Now, though, Texas SR-22 auto insurance has this great service offered by the Texas Department of Public Safety. It’s called the DPS Express (thankfully, it’s a lot faster than the pony express). As soon as you get your Texas SR-22 form from your auto insurance company, instead of going through all of the red tape that is the DPS and spending a long time without your license, you can do the same SR-22 filing online at the Texas department of public safety’s website and get everything done with in that very day, so that you can get back on the road. It does have a small cost of twenty five dollars, though. However, this is nothing for anyone who would lose much more by being without a car.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

For how long are you required to have SR 22 filing done?

Adam

Excellent question, Adam.

The truth is that the necessity and length of the SR 22 filing process depends on a number of factors. The SR 22 filing requirement is one that comes after you have been convicted for something such as driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence of mind altering drugs (which also comes with even heavier penalties, along with the drunk driving), and driving without proof of financial responsibility; the requirement becomes even more strict when any of these actions result in a car accident. If you are simply caught from being pulled over by a police officer, then the requirements are less strict.

The first factor that affects how long you have to do SR 22 filing is your possession of a license. Normally, if you are required to file an SR 22 form, then you must first have had your driver’s license suspended. Sometimes the suspension lasts for a certain amount of time before you are able to reinstate it with SR 22 auto insurance coverage proof. Other times, it is only suspended until you pay a fee (which varies from state to state) and provide the DMV with your SR 22 form. The key to all of this is that the period during which you are required to do SR 22 filing applies whether or not you have a driver’s license. Theoretically, you could simply choose to take the bus for three years after your license was first suspended before reinstating it. If you did this, then you would never have to pay for expensive SR 22 auto insurance coverage.

The other factor that affects your SR 22 filing requirement is the number of times you have committed the offense in question. For example, if this is your second time getting thrown in jail for driving while intoxicated, then the amount of time you have to file an SR 22 form lengthens considerably. The normal amount for most first time cases is three years. For drunk driving, though, it is five years in most states. The second time you are caught drunk driving, that number of years doubles to ten years. The third time, it doubles again, to twenty years.

Cheers.

Fashun Guadarrama.

I guess I wasn’t listening too hard. What I was supposed to do was get an SR 1 insurance form filed by my auto insurance company so that the department of motor vehicles would have continuous proof of my car insurance coverage. I didn’t do that, because I had no idea that I was supposed to. I did keep my auto insurance coverage going for the whole time, but when I got to court and didn’t have an SR 1 to show for the time, the judge was not impressed.

The reason why I am mentioning this under an SR 22 topic is because I think it is important for those doing Texas SR 22 filing to realize that there is a difference between having an SR 22 form and having three years of insurance cards. One the judge will accept as proper proof, and the other just doesn’t work.

It’s a funny system, considering that both methods prove the same point–that you had car insurance coverage during the time of punishment after your Texas DUI conviction. However, what the SR 22 accomplishes that the regular insurance card doesn’t is that it keeps the department of motor vehicles constantly informed of your insurance status. On the other hand, just the insurance card can only provide proof of this after your period is over. That’s the emphasis that I want to put behind proper Texas SR 22 filing–it has to be done because it is the only approved method. You can’t just prove financial responsibility any which way.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.