Hi, Chicago personal injury attorney Barry Zlotowicz of the LawFull channel. Thanks for checking out this video. I’ve received a few calls in the past year from auto accident victims who asked “Can you cancel your insurance after you file a claim?

The short answer is “Yes.” You can cancel your auto insurance after you file a claim. Don’t worry. The insurance company will cover your claim if your insurance policy was in effect at the time of the accident. Cancelling it after should have little effect on the insurance company’s willingness to pay for your damages. However, there are a few things to consider before you cancel.

Why would you want to cancel your insurance? You may just want to change insurance companies. Maybe you got a better deal elsewhere. However, there are some reasons why you may not want to cancel your insurance.

First, insurance companies are notoriously (and some might say intentionally) difficult to deal with. In my experience as a personal injury lawyer, when you file a “first party claim,” meaning a claim with your own insurance company, the insurance company will attempt to be helpful, depending on the adjuster you are dealing with.

However, as soon as you are “adverse,” meaning, you are opposing your insurance company, you are no different to them than you are to the insurance for the person who hit you.


When might you be adverse? Let’s say you file a claim for your uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits. Then you’re trying to obtain insurance from your own insurance company for your medical bills or pain and suffering. And they want to minimize your recovery as much as they can.

Also, just a thought but if you cancel your insurance right after filing a claim, you may risk becoming less of a priority to them. You are no longer a client. You are not adverse per se, but you are no longer paying insurance premiums to State Farm or any other insurer. However, I think that situation is rare.

If you do cancel your auto insurance, there are ramifications just in general, not necessarily related to your claim. First, your vehicle has to be covered at all times. Do not allow a “gap in coverage” on your vehicle. That could result in fees or increased rates or there could be other charges when you try to restart coverage.

You may also lose the benefit of having multiple lines of coverage. So you’ve seen those commercials about bundling your home and auto insurance together. If you drop a line of insurance, you may lose those discounts.

Also, if anything happens to your vehicle while the coverage is not in effect, of course your insurance will not cover it. So, for example, let’s say your car gets involved in an accident and you believe the insurance company is going to total it. The car is sitting in front of your house waiting to be inspected. If you cancel your policy before a final decision is made by your insurance company, you will be stuck with the bill if anything happens to it – like a break in, a solo car crash, or a tree falling on it etc. What if the insurance company does not total it?

There may also be ramifications from your Department of Motor Vehicles for owning a vehicle without having insurance on it.

So, while the answer to the question “can I cancel my car insurance after filing a claim?” is yes, you may want to stop and contemplate before canceling your policy.

Thanks for checking out this video. If you have any other questions about this topic, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. Or, check out my website www.chicagolegalgroup.com.