When ADHD Affects Car Insurance Premiums
“My son, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has been caught speeding twice, and has gotten into an accident,” one reader tells us. “Our auto insurance premiums are now sky-high. Can we appeal to the insurance company?”
You can appeal the car insurance company’s decision to raise your premiums, but you don’t have much legal recourse. Although the actions of the insurance company appear discriminatory, its actions are due not to your son’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but to the higher-than-normal risk that your son will get into another accident. Insurance companies factor such risks into their premiums, even though your son’s risky driving may be due not to faulty driving schools but his ADHD.
The bottom line: As long as the insurance company treats all high-risk drivers the same way, disability or not, you don’t have a case of discrimination.
