It is your responsibility to make sure that any vehicle you operate on the road has at least the minimum insurance coverage allowed by your state. While the economy might be changing or an unforeseen financial problem has surfaced, you must do what you can to keep your car insurance policy active. This is not something that you want to miss payments on. Keep reading to learn why it's never a good idea to let your auto insurance policy lapse:

You Could End Up Paying More

When you let your car insurance policy lapse due to lack of payment, you may end up having to pay more for the same coverage when you go to start a new policy. This is because you will be deemed a high-risk policyholder. You want to avoid paying more for your car insurance than you need to. Think about how much extra that could be and what you could do with that money. You could put it towards a new paint job on the car or pay your policy payments in advance.

Your Vehicle Could Be Impounded

It can be costly to retrieve your vehicle from an impound lot. It can be especially hard to do when the reason someone's vehicle got towed away is that they didn't pay their auto insurance company. If you are pulled over by police for any traffic violation, they can have your vehicle towed to the impound lot if you do not have a current insurance policy. By law, they cannot allow you to continue to drive the vehicle without the coverage required by state law. You would then have to find someone to pick you up and take you home or to the impound lot.

As you can see, you will want to call to discuss your situation with your insurance company. Instead of missing a payment, they might be able to offer you a deferment on a payment. They could simply give you a few more days in your grace period before a cancellation happens. This might be a good time to discuss the details of your car insurance policy. There might be some things you can change in your coverage to allow you to have a smaller monthly payment. For example, if you don't have a lien against your vehicle, you could just lower your coverage down to limited and select a higher deductible for claims.