Car Insurance

Mandatory auto insurance begins June 1

(JS ONLINE) - Unless you want to risk getting slapped with an extra $200 ticket the next time you’re pulled over for a traffic violation, it’s time to make sure you have auto insurance in Wisconsin - and documentation with you in the car to prove it.

Wisconsin’s mandatory auto insurance law takes effect June 1, which means law enforcement officers will begin asking not only for a driver’s license during traffic stops, but also for proof of insurance, which usually is a card provided by insurers when the premium is paid.

The requirement for drivers to carry liability coverage is the final phase of a revamp of state auto insurance law that was included in Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget last year. Among the previous changes have been increases in the minimum amounts of liability coverage drivers must carry.

Advocates say the auto insurance changes make economic sense: Motorists should have insurance - and enough of it - to pay for the damage they could do to other drivers or property.

Opponents say the changes were unnecessary in Wisconsin, where about 85% of drivers - more than in many states where auto insurance has been compulsory for years - already buy liability coverage voluntarily.

The increases in minimum coverages make insurance more expensive for some drivers, and the changes in law were just a political favor to trial lawyers from the Democrats who control state government, they say.

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