How Lack of Car Insurance Can Lead to A Repo

If you watch TV or surf the internet at all, chances are you have seen one of the many commercials aimed at convincing consumers to compare rates for their car insurance. Everyone says that they have the best coverage for the best price, but some companies even offer rate comparisons at their expense to help you make the right decision. All of the geckos and Jackie-O-esque spokespersons can make one shy away from actually getting the quotes because of the constant bombardment of advertising. But what if the big corporations have a point?

My husband discovered a while back that maybe all of that pushing is actually a push in the right direction. He learned the hard way that not having affordable auto insurance can ultimately lead to getting your car repossessed. It sounds like a stretch, but it really happens, as it happened to my husband Lee once upon a time.

The story goes like this: Lee was performing a juggling act with his debts, and soon realized that he simply had more expenses than he had income. The automobile insurance he had on his SUV was too high for him to keep up with, so he let it lapse. His intentions were to catch up as soon as he could and stay off the road as much as possible until the situation was cleared up. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the opportunity to put his plan to the test. Midwestern-based ALF Insurance had a different plan in mind.

The insurance company reported to Lee's credit union that he was uninsured.

In a surprising but completely legal move, ALF Insurance gave LSI Credit Union the heads up on how Lee's insurance had lapsed, which took things from bad to worse. We all know that if a lending institution holding a lien finds that the borrower does not have proper insurance, they can slap their own expensive insurance plan on them without warning. LSI Credit Union did just that, and told Lee that if he didn’t want their sky high rates he should find his own insurance. Needless to say, that was easier said than done, not because the geckos and 60s receptionists weren’t there waiting with a quote, but because he couldn't afford what he had before, much less the new payment. Now the newly imposed car insurance was attached to Lee’s car note, which put the vehicle in jeopardy. He couldn’t manage to get a new policy and pay for the one that was now attached to his car loan. After months of struggling to make the new, inflated note, he had to submit to a voluntary repossession of his truck.

As a married guy with a pretty smart wife (if I must say so myself), Lee has grown from the experience and does a different juggling act these days. Instead of juggling debts, he is a bargain shopper, always with an ear to the ground on the best deals in commodities, food, retail items, and insurance, making 'the switch' whenever it is advantageous to do so. Considering the circus that is our current American marketplace, it's an act that's a lot more fun to watch.

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