When a Texas law enforcement official stops you and believes you might be driving under the influence, he or she may ask you to submit to a breath test to see if you are, in fact, intoxicated. If your breath test suggests you are under the influence, you may face a charge of driving while intoxicated. A conviction for DWI in Texas leads to considerable penalties, and while some of these penalties are criminal in nature, others are more financial.
Per Insure.com, you should expect your automotive insurance rates to rise sharply after a Texas DWI, even if it is your first conviction for drunk driving. How much more might you have to shell out for insurance coverage once you have a drunk driving offense in your history?
Assessing the increase
Texas motorists with DWIs typically see their auto insurance rates increase by 59% after their convictions. What might this look like in dollars and cents? Prior to your DWI conviction, you may have paid somewhere in the vicinity of $1,644 per year for insurance coverage. After that 59% increase, though, your annual premium may increase to about $2,619. This amounts to an annual increase of $975 as a result of that DWI.
Shopping around
Auto insurance companies use a variety of different formulas to determine how much to charge you for insurance coverage. For this reason, it may benefit you to get insurance quotes from several additional insurance providers in addition to your existing one.
Depending on circumstances, you may also find that the insurance company that offered the most favorable rate before your DWI is not the one to do so after.
