The group estimates the number of uninsured motorists based on data from insurance claims.Possibly adding to the problem is the fact that auto-insurance rates are rising again after a couple of years of flat or declining premiums.

Insurance companies charge them more because they consider them irresponsible: Unlicensed and uninsured drivers are disproportionately involved in fatal accidents.

You can protect yourself by carrying uninsured-motorist coverage  almost half of states require the added coverage  but this may boost your premium.Even in good times, many Americans drive without insurance.

In some states, including Mississippi, California and Arizona, roughly a quarter of drivers werent insured.Preliminary data from the councils forthcoming study indicate that a single percentage point increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a half-point increase in the percentage of uninsured drivers, said David Corum, council vice president.

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Since then, Kuban has been recuperating at home.Because the at-fault driver had no insurance, Kuban has relied on her $300,000 uninsured-motorist policy for claims reimbursement.

She says the other driver was charged with a misdemeanor for driving without insurance on a private road.The hardest part of this is that we had a very good record with our insurance company.

Premiums nationally rose 3.8 percent in November from a year ago, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index.Agents say a growing number of customers are stripping down their auto-insurance policies, taking the absolute minimum level of liability coverage legally required to drive.A good proportion of people on the road are either uninsured or underinsured, and so you have to protect yourself, said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit group.

Drivers can protect themselves by carrying uninsured-motorist coverage ?almost half of states require the...

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