What happens when you don’t have any insurance and you hit a power pole what could happen?

California, like many states, requires drivers to have auto insurance. If they do not have a valid policy, there are penalties of up to several hundred dollars when they are caught driving. While the fines for failure to have insurance are relatively tame, it can result in loss of a driver’s license for up to 5 years.

When a driver has an up-to-date auto insurance policy, any accident can still be costly. Those who take the chance of driving their vehicle without a valid policy are looking at fines, loss of license and being forced to pay for all the damages cause by the accident.

California insurance law allows the person driving without a valid insurance policy to be sued by any party affected by the accident, and they can sue for the total cost no matter who was at fault. The reasoning is that the person driving without insurance should not have been driving, and this makes them completely responsible for all costs associated with it. Assets, such as home or vehicles, can be taken from the uninsured driver to settle the debt.

Utility companies are usually insured, and their expenses for the pole replacement will be covered by their own insurance company. The insurance company will then go after the uninsured driver who hit the pole to recover costs of the utility company as well as legal fees, and the court will generally side with them.