If you’ve been anywhere near an entertainment report for the last ten days you’re clued in to the “Lindsay Lohan has to go to jail” story. Hats off to the Insurance Information Network of California (IINC) for managing to jump on that story with a press release reminding folks that our mistakes follow us — whether we’re on the nightly news or not.
All of her insurance payments — car, life, home, health — could suffer as a result of her transgressions. The IINC took the details of her profile:
– zip code
– model of vehicle
– two DUIs
– one at-fault car accident
With a clean record, Lohan would pay $2,075 every six months for full coverage. What’s she really going to pay with her record? $7,408.90. And only about 10% of the companies in California writing coverage for autos would even consider taking her on. Truth be told, she’ll probably have to take out the coverage for bad drivers offered through the state Department of Insurance.
Going into the calculation, the IINC figured Lohan’s premiums would double. In truth, her premium went up 350% thanks to some whopping bad choices.
In a story for Insurance Journal, Pete Moraga, communications specialist for IINC made a telling statement, “risky decisions we make in our daily lives will impact [the] cost [of our coverage.”
Each of Lohan’s DUIs will stay on her record for ten years. She can afford to pay $15,000 a year for auto insurance — the rest of us can’t. There are many good reasons not to get behind the wheel drunk, but if nothing else stops you, think about the dollar sign attached. It’s just too expensive, all the way around.