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Cruising Without Coverage: 16% of Drivers Have Lacked Auto Insurance, InsuranceQuotes.com Poll Shows


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AUSTIN, TX--April 5, 2011: Sixteen percent of American drivers have driven a car without auto insurance, with nearly half of them saying they couldn't afford the insurance premiums, according to an InsuranceQuotes.com poll conducted online by Harris Interactive.

Two percent of American motorists said they're currently driving without auto insurance.

Twenty-eight percent of American men ages 18 to 34 and 45 to 54 have driven without insurance, the highest percentage among all age and gender groups, according to a survey of 2,366 adults conducted Feb. 24-28, 2011.

In the survey, 16 percent of adult drivers said they had at one point gone without auto insurance -- a violation of mandatory insurance laws in every state but New Hampshire. Each year, auto insurers wind up paying millions of dollars in claims for damage and injuries caused by uninsured drivers; insured motorists typically pick up that tab in the form of higher premiums.

When asked why they drove without auto insurance, 44 percent of those who had gone without it said they couldn't afford the insurance premiums -- the No. 1 reason cited in the InsuranceQuotes.com poll. In most states, your auto insurance premium easily can total $1,000 a year.

"The results of this poll show that if you're a driver who does carry auto insurance, you should be aware that the driver of the car next to you may not be carrying auto insurance," said John Egan, managing editor of InsuranceQuotes.com.

"If you are an insured motorist, you may want to add coverage in case an uninsured motorist hits your car. It's like looking both ways before you drive through an intersection -- it's a safeguard."

For more information about the InsuranceQuotes.com poll on uninsured drivers, visit Uninsured Poll.

Survey methodology

The Harris Interactive survey was conducted online within the United States on behalf of InsuranceQuotes.com from Feb. 24-28, 2011, among 2,366 adults age 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and, therefore, no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.