Car Insurance Rates Seattle Washington

Reader’s Question:

I was driving in Seattle Washington using a friend’s car, which has an insurance, when a law enforcing officer asked me to pull over because I was running a red light. Because of this, I received a fine but me as a driver without an insurance was not mentioned. Will the incident affect my friend’s car insurance rate? What would happen if I was caught driving without any insurance?

Arlene

Seattle, WA

Generally, if you received a ticket while driving someone else’s car, the effect would be onto your driver’s license and record and not to the owner of the car. The case is different if the citation was for an expired registration.

Your driving record, and not your friend’s driving record and insurance, will be affected if your name appears on the ticket. If you would be driving your friend’s car regularly, your friend should check with the insurance company to ensure that you are covered in the policy.

In most state, like Washington, it is the vehicle that needs to be shown as having insurance and a vehicle’s insurance card is enough to prove that the car meets the state’s minimum insurance coverage. Some states however also requires every driver to be insured. If you are asked to pull over and could not show any proof of insurance under your name when asked by a law enforcing officer, then you could be ticketed.

You could check with your state’s DMV if an insurance is required for a licensed driver, like you, or if it is just the