I just received a ticket for my child not wearing a seat belt. When police stopped me he was wearing the seat belt but the officer said he already saw him without it so he went ahead and cited me for it. My child is 11 years of age and the ticket came out to be $966.00 is this possible or can I fight this? This is insane this happened in California.

Does liability insurance cover vandalism?

No, Liability coverages of Bodily Injury and Property Damage in no way cover your own vehicle for damages sustained in an accident or by vandalism.

Liability coverage helps protect you from covered damage your car does to others, damage for which you are legally liable and without Liability insurance would have to pay out of pocket for damages you cause. In some cases these damages could grow into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What your Liability insurance will cover depends upon the coverage you have in place and your state laws.  The purpose of Bodily Injury Liability and Property Damage Liability if you are at fault in an accident, your Liability insurance will pay for the bodily injury and property damage expenses caused to others in the accident, including your legal bills.

To have vandalism to your vehicle covered you would need Comprehensive coverage.  This physical damage coverage along with Collision is optional (though if you have a lien holder they will mandate that you carry it).  Collision insurance covers damage to your automobile caused by collision with another object or by upset. Comprehensive insurance covers damage to your automobile from vandalism, theft or glass breakage and "other than collision" incidents such as being hit by an animal, such as a deer.

With only Liability coverage you cannot make a claim for damages to your own car, such as vandalism. If you had Comprehensive you could make a claim and have your vehicle to be repaired from the vandalism damage and just owe the deductible associated with this coverage.

You can get low cost car insurance quotes for Liability only policies or ones with full coverage (including Collision and Comprehensive so your car is protected) with CarInsurance.com.  Just put in your zip code above and start your quoting process with us.

In Connecticut what is the penalty for a second time offense of driving without insurance (not having an insurance card).

If you are a Connecticut resident you are probably aware that Connecticut state law requires minimum Bodily Injury Liability coverage of $20,000 per injured person up to a total of $40,000 per accident, and Property Damage Liability coverage with a minimum limit of $10,000. This basic coverage is often referred to as 20/40/10 coverage.

Connecticut state law requires a minimum Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist coverage of $20,000 per person, $40,000 per accident for any bodily injury caused by the uninsured driver.

The General Statutes of Connecticut (GSC 14-112) requires that all registered motor vehicles have liability insurance maintained at all times. When you register or renew a vehicle registration, you must certify insurance coverage. Your signature attests that minimum vehicle liability insurance will be maintained throughout the registration period and the vehicle will not be driven without insurance. Action must be taken by the DMV if this statement is not honored.

Whenever insurance coverage is cancelled, the CT DMV is notified by the insurance company due to the mandatory insurance reporting laws and the registrant with the insurance lapse is mailed a Warning Notice offering the opportunity to enter into a consent agreement, obtain insurance, and pay a fine of $200. If you follow this request by the DMV no further action is supposed to be brought against you if insurance is maintained on the vehicle as required by CT law.

If you do not respond to the notification by the CT DMV about your lapse in insurance coverage then they should send you a suspension notice and a hearing can be set up to discuss your penalties which typically include suspension of the vehicles registration and/or your driver's license. Also you will normally lose all privileges to renew or register any motor vehicle.

Beyond these penalties that the CT DMV can impose there are penalties in court you can receive for being caught driving without insurance, this includes impoundment of the vehicle and a fine of at least $100.

Connecticut law (CGS 14-213b) notes that a vehicle owner who violates the required security requirements of CT law is subject to a fine of at least $100 but no more than $1,000. However, an owner of a vehicle with a commercial registration who knowingly operates or permits the operation of the vehicle without the required insurance is guilty of a class D felony (a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment up to five years, or both). In addition, the person is subject to a registration and license suspension of one month for a first conviction and six months for subsequent convictions.

A person who violates CGS 38a-371 which states that the owner of a private passenger motor vehicle required to be registered in this state shall provide and continuously maintain throughout the registration period security (in accordance with sections 38a-334 to 38a-343 that require minimum auto insurance coverages) is guilty of a class C misdemeanor which comes with a fine of up to $ 500, imprisonment up to three months, or both.

So there are a variety of penalties you could receive if found without the required insurance on a first or second offense in Connecticut since you can be cited for operating a vehicle without insurance as well as failure to maintain insurance on your vehicle. The penalties include fines, possible imprisonment, license and registration suspension as well as impoundment of your vehicle.

If you are only cited for failure to carry proof of insurance on your vehicle it is a less serious offense since you could show to the court that there was in effect at the time of the citation if you did have proper insurance. Failure to carry a vehicle's automobile insurance identification or other proof of financial responsibility in the vehicle is subject to a $35 fine for the first offense and up to a $50 fine for subsequent offenses (per CGS 14-13).

Keep in mind that many infractions and other types of violations in CT and other states are subject to one or more surcharges, fees, or assessments based on, or added to, the actual fine, and thus the total amount due is often higher than the base fine amount.

For free auto insurance quotes for Connecticut, click here so that you will not be found driving as an uninsured motorist.

I have a suspended license in South Carolina. Can I obtain a license in Connecticut? What if I take the driving class and the tests again?

To the best of our knowledge you cannot obtain a Connecticut driver's license while your license is still under suspension in South Carolina. The General Statutes of Connecticut (GSC) Section 14-36 notes in subsection (g) that before issuing an operator's license the CT Department of Motor Vehicles shall request information from the National Driver Registry (NDR).

When state officials process a driver’s license application, they are required to check the National Driver Register database to determine if the applicant has been identified as a problem driver in another state. If a match is found in NDR, state officials are directed to another state DMV system for details on the traffic conviction or status of the license.

The federal requirement to check applicants against NDR was intended to prevent problem drivers from shopping around for a license meaning a person would go to a different state to get a new driver’s license when their current licenses are suspended or revoked. Keeping problem drivers off the road is critical to the NHTSA's (the administrator of the NDR) goal of reducing highway fatalities and injuries.

So the CT DMV will check the NDR and see your South Carolina suspension on it if you apply for a Connecticut driver's license.

CT statute 14-111k notes in subsection (a) that upon application for a motor vehicle operator's license or identification card, the DMV shall determine whether the applicant has ever held, or is the holder of, a license issued by any other jurisdiction. Furthermore the DMV shall not issue a license to any applicant whose license is withdrawn in any other member jurisdiction for any conviction or administrative action required to be reported under the driver license agreement, as evidenced by the driver control record.

GCS Section 14-111h defines “Withdrawal" as meaning the suspension, revocation, cancellation or denial of a license or motor vehicle registration or of the privilege to operate a motor vehicle or to obtain a license or registration.

We thus take from these Connecticut laws that with a suspended license in South Carolina that you will be unable to obtain a CT driver's license until your issues in SC are resolved and that license is reinstated. You can check with the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles however about your specific situation to see if any type of license would be available to you in their state.

While the CT handbook states that all license applicants 18 years of age or older who have not previously held a license in Connecticut or who does not hold a valid license issued by another state will be required to take an 8-hour course on safe driving practices and present a certificate showing proof of attending this course to the DMV we do not believe this would apply to your situation since your license is in fact suspended out of state. This would only apply if you were unlicensed and obtaining your first driver's license.

The CT DMV can tell you for certain if there are any tests you can take to get a regular or restricted license presently with your out of state suspended license however it is that in order to get a Connecticut license they will require you to take care of the SC issue first.

If you are able to get a CT driver's license you can search for inexpensive car insurance here.

I am moving my car to Utah from Virginia. How quickly do I have to register my car in Utah and change the plates? Do I have to insure my car in Utah or can I maintain my Virginia insurance?

Can a city police officer (Grants Pass, OR) pull you over only for not wearing your seat belt? I always thought that they had to pull you over for some other infraction first.

In Oregon the seat belt law is a primary offense so you can be pulled over for this offense only.

In OR you can be pulled over just for an officer seeing you without your seat belt being used properly since it is a primary offense. If it was a secondary offense you need to be pulled over for some other moving violation, such as speeding, to be ticketed for a seat belt violation however that is not so in Oregon which has the primary offense seat belt law.

Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) Sections 811.210 through 811.225 give the specific wording regarding the state's statutory requirements regarding their seat belt laws. Here are some general descriptions of the seat belt and safety restraint laws that OR has in place.

Oregon law requires that all motor vehicle operators and passengers be properly secured with a safety belt or safety harness, unless all safety-belt equipped seating positions are occupied by other persons. This applies to passenger cars, pickup trucks, motor homes, and fee-based people transport carrying fifteen or fewer persons. Limited exemptions are allowed under ORS 811.215. Vehicle owners are required to maintain belt systems in working order.

Child passengers must be restrained in approved child safety seats until they weigh forty pounds. Infants must ride rear-facing until they reach both one year of age AND twenty pounds. Children over forty pounds must use boosters to 4'9" tall unless they have reached age eight.

Oregon child seat laws generally reflect the US DOT National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommendations based upon accepted nationwide studies. The NHTSA offers the following two additional recommendations which are not currently included in Oregon law:

Children should ride rear-facing in their car seat until they reach the upper height or weight limit recommended by the manufacturer of the seat in use (provides greater head protection particularly in a side-impact crash), and Children under age thirteen should ride in the back seat (reduces the risk of crash injury by 37% for this age group.)

In Oregon failure to properly use safety belts, is a Class D traffic violation according to ORS 811.210.

It appears in many counties in Oregon you can ask to take a seat belt use course or a seat belt diversion class to get your seat belt ticket dismissed. For example the Jackson County court says if you have elected to attend the Safety Belt Use Course in lieu of paying a fine to the court, attending the class will dismiss this citation from your driving record. So you may see if this is available to you and the driver that was ticketed as a way to keep the seat belt violation from being reported to Idaho and placed on your ID motor vehicle record (MVR). If not than from the base fine schedules we have seen both a Class C and Class D traffic violation tickets for a seat belt offense is $97 plus courts costs, etc.

CarInsurance.com can help you with affordable Oregon car insurance whether you have a clean record or violations such as a seat belt ticket on there.

How come my rates never change as my car gets older?

The type of vehicle and its classification (which takes into account that it is older) is only one part of the rating factors that go into determining your auto insurance rates. While your vehicle may be getting older it may be that costs for repairs for your vehicle are remaining the same, or going up, so if you were in an accident it would continue to cost the insurer the same or more. Your vehicle may actually become more popular with thieves and be more likely to be stolen then some newer cars. These types of issues can keep your insurance from being lowered each year.

You may find that your auto insurance rates go up, even with an older car. Premiums can go up for a variety of reasons. Some reasons or factors are under your control, such as your driving record, claims record and credit report. Getting a traffic tickets and being involved in an accident can both cause your car insurance rates to rise, depending on your state's insurance laws and your insurance company's rating system. Also many states allow your credit report to be looked at as part of the rating process.

Your rates can also rise if you add more drivers to your policy. If the new driver is inexperienced or a teenager it can be an extra expensive. If you add more cars to your policy or buy a newer, more expensive model vehicle it can also add to the expense of your insurance premium.

Other rate increases can be out of your control, such as when a state allows insurance companies to raise their rates. Also you cannot control that vehicles cost more to fix than the year before and that medical expenses go up. Insurance companies do routinely raise rates for all insureds to cover these rising costs they pay out.

So as these types of costs rise nationwide, the cost for insurance can also rise so that insurance companies can afford to pay out for claims. There are ways to keep your insurance rates low though.

Having a good driving record, taking traffic school, increasing your deductibles and asking for discounts are ways in which to keep your car insurance rates down. Driving fewer miles per year, fixing any problems on your credit history and shopping around for the best priced insurance policy are other ways in which to save.

To find out specifically why your rates have not gone down with your insurer as your car gets older, check with your insurance carrier. If your rates are raised or have change for some reason than many times your insurance policy renewal notification will list on there the reason. Even if your car is getting older your rates may stay the same or even go up due to some of the reasons we have noted above.

You may also contact your state's insurance regulator, which is the state agency that car insurance companies must file their rates with, to find out about your insurance company's rating system.

You can comparison shop with other insurance companies in your state to make sure you are getting the best price possible. With CarInsurance.com you can get instant car insurance quotes and then buy your policy online.