The NC Legislature has been busy and have come up with quite a few major changes that will be going into effect as of July 1st, this year. You've probably read about them or seen them on the local news, but if not, I wanted to take a minute to summarize them and explain them for you.
Minimum Liability Limits Increasing
Currently, to be legal in NC, a registered vehicle must carry liability coverage for both property damage the at fault party does as well as injuries they may cause. Those limits are currently $30,000 per person for injuries caused and $60,000 max per accident and then $25,000 for property damage caused (Does not included damage done to your body or your vehicle). Many people abbreviate and refer to this as 30/60/25 limits.
Beginning in July, these limits will be increased to a minimum of 50/100/50.
For 99.9% of our customers, this will have no impact on their current policy, as we have always made it a point to not offer minimum liability limits of 30/60/25. However, now that the change will increase that, there will be a lot more clients that will now be at the state minimum limits.
We deal with auto claims on a daily basis and I cannot stress enough how important it is to carry high limits of coverage. Look at it as your defense shield against a lawsuit. We strongly recommend you pair high limits with a liability umbrella. Let us know if you would like to talk about that and price it out.
Inexperienced Drivers
For drivers obtaining their driver’s license for the first time on and after July 1, the inexperience period will increase from three to eight years . This change does not impact drivers licensed prior to July 1, 2025. Concurrent with this change, there may also be “discounts” prescribed to reduce the inexperience surcharge for drivers that remain free of at-fault accident and conviction free (including PJC’s).
We have not received a lot of information on how this increased surcharge structure will work, but if you have a driver getting their license this year for the first time, I'd highly recommend taking care of it prior to July 1, so they are under the three year system.
Major Convictions
For all convictions that assign four or greater points, the chargeability period will be going from the current three years to five years. This does not apply to minor violations or accidents, from what we have seen at this time, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see the period increase to five years across the board.
There are a few other changes, but those are the major ones I wanted to highlight in this article.
We are now about done with all of the health insurance mumbo jumbo for another year. Praise God!!!!
That said, I wanted to make you aware that our agency provides supplemental insurance. Think Aflac, but without the confusing payout structure. This coverage can be purchased for you or your family and can help with some or all of the large out of pocket responsibility that comes with health insurance these days.
Let's face it. The health insurance industry is not improving things year after year. Deductibles are getting higher and out of pocket responsibilities are greater each year. This is where supplemental coverage comes in to play, and I wanted to demonstrate a scenario for a real life family example.
Meet John and Jane Doe. They are 45 years old and have three children.
They can purchase a $10,000 per person (unlimited uses) accident policy for their family for $18.02 a month. This means that every time one of them has an accident (sprained their ankle in the soccer game or maybe fell off the ladder taking down the Christmas lights), they can file their health insurance, but also file this policy and get reimbursed the costs minus a $250 deductible.
They can also add coverage for just a small amount more for hospitalization and/or cancer, heart attack or stroke. All of these are designed to supplement what you have for your major medical plan and reduce your exposure.
If you would like to chat more about this, let me know and I'll run some custom quotes for you.
There are two times you will deal with a trip to the DMV for a new driver.
Learner Permit- We do not need to provide anything for you for this visit, however, we need to let the insurance company know that there is a learner permit driver now in your household. Why? Because they will be using your vehicle to learn, and the insurance company wants to know about that. Having a learner permit does not impact your rate . Simply send us a photo of their learner permit and we'll disclose it on your policy.
Driver License- This is where you need to notify us prior to going to the DMV for your appointment. You will need a DL123 form, which type up for you. Please give us 24 hours notice on this. Too often people call us live from the DMV lobby. We can help, but often it delays you and then you're not happy. Know before you go and get the paperwork printed out and ready for your big day. Then send us a photo of that new driver license and go out and celebrate your kiddo's accomplishment.
I've begun writing blog articles on our website, and wanted to link a few in this section each month.
What should I do after an auto accident - Helpful tips for you here. We are here to help file that claim for you.
Do I need full coverage? - We get this question all the time.
Can I Insure a vehicle that is not in my name?
We celebrated our office Christmas party with spouses this year exchanging gifts and eating great Italian food at The Leaning Tree Italian restaurant in Bailey, NC. It's a bit of a drive for us, but this is the 2nd year in a row we've gone there and they always do such a great job with the food and atmosphere. Plus it's a passion of ours to support other small businesses.
Prior to Christmas, we had our annual planning day as a staff. Judith and Josh and Adam and I met for breakfast in the office and reviewed what we had accomplished as an agency in 2024, but also reviewed processes, trained on products and worked on our plan to serve better in 2025.
Afterwards we had a blast supporting another local business, Exit Strategy , by doing an escape room as a fun teambuilding activity. Of course we escaped.
