The process of cancelling car insurance if you are senior can be a daunting but necessary procedure. Seniors cancellation of vehicle insurance is important if you no longer feel like you are interested in driving or able to drive due to age-related factors. Prior to cancelling car insurance, you should make sure that no payments are still due on your car, as many lienholders require drivers to purchase insurance if they still owe money on their vehicles. Before making any determinations about your insurance, contact your vehicle’s lienholder to ensure that you are authorized to have no insurance coverage on your car. There are steps to cancel your car insurance if you will no longer drive and are certain that your vehicle no longer needs insurance coverage. To learn more about how to cancel car insurance, please review the sections below.
Reasons for Cancelling Car Insurance
An auto insurance cancellation for seniors may be a good idea if you are confident in your decision to stop driving your vehicle, as you will no longer have to pay for a service you do not have any need for. Ending car insurance coverage may significantly reduce your monthly expenses, so terminating a policy that is no longer necessary should be one of the first steps you take once you decide to stop driving. Once you have made the decision to no longer drive, you may also want to apply for an ID in case your state requires you to surrender your license.
Additionally, cancelling an auto insurance may qualify you to receive a prorated refund based on the unused time period remaining in your policy, which could be days, weeks or even months. The terms associated with this senior car insurance cancellation rebate are at the discretion of your insurance provider, but you may consult with your carrier or agent to learn whether you are eligible to receive it and what the guidelines to request the prorated funds are. After you cancel car insurance policy, you will be revoking your ability to drive that vehicle in a state that requires all cars to have auto insurance. Therefore, prior to cancelling a car insurance policy if you are senior, you should be certain that you will no longer need to drive the vehicle that will become uninsured.
Consequences for Not Canceling Car Insurance If You Are a Senior
A seniors cancellation of vehicle insurance will only occur if the senior vehicle owner successfully notifies his or her insurance carrier or agent about the decision to cancel an auto insurance policy. Thus, seniors who have decided to stop driving should not stop submitting payments to an auto insurance carrier without notifying the company about their intention to cancel their policies. Prior to the automatic cancelling of car insurance due to a lack of payments, most insurance companies will extend active policies for a grace period, which incurs a cost that will later be billed to policy holders. A senior should cancel a car insurance policy to avoid having to pay for this grace period extension. Additionally, if a method of automatic policy renewals is in effect and the senior does not cancel his or her auto insurance, the policy will be automatically renewed until a cancellation is actually requested.
Steps to Cancel Your Car Insurance
The process for cancelling car insurance if you are senior is the same as the process for cancelling insurance if you are a younger driver. The basic steps to cancel your car insurance include notifying your insurance carrier or agent about your desire to cancel your policy, as well as filling out, signing and submitting a cancellation request form. There are different ways to go about how to cancel car insurance, but the most common methods of notifying an insurer and submitting a cancellation request are by fax or mail, in person or by phone.
An over-the-phone request to cancel car insurance policy may not be sufficient in some cases, however, as signed documents may have to be submitted for an insurance carrier or agent to actively process the cancellation request.
What to Do After Canceling Your Car Insurance
A seniors cancellation of vehicle insurance is only successful after a cancellation request form is submitted and the processed is completed. Thus, because guidelines for how to cancel car insurance policies vary across different companies, it is important for a senior to stay up to date with the process until it is completed. After an auto insurance cancellation is complete, seniors may be eligible to receive a prorated refund based on the number of days, weeks or months that were still left in the policy after it was terminated. However, the issuance of this rebate is at the discretion of each insurance provider, and the guidelines for drivers to obtain this refund may vary according to their insurance carriers.
The last step to cancelling car insurance if you are senior is to notify your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of your insurance cancellation. DMVs in certain states and counties may have additional requirements for a driver who has cancelled an auto policy in order to ensure that uninsured vehicles will not be driven.