Southern California Car Insurance – What You Now Need and Savings Proposed
As with most states, California state car insurance law requires all drivers to carry three fundamental liability components.
Bodily Injury Liability (i.e. BIL) of $ 15,000 per person
Total Bodily Injury Liability (Total BIL) of $ 30,000 for each accident
Property Damage Liability or PDL of $ 15,000 per accident
Your insurance agent calls this 15k/30k/15k.
But to rely on this coverage alone, would be sheer foolishness. Multi-car collisions & legal fees commonly boost the cost of an automobile accident into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you are at fault and you have gone with the minimums, you personally, must cover the shortfall. Now you must re-mortgage your house, forfeit your savings & probably even more…sound good?
From experience, I recommend no less than 100k/300k/100k and more, if you are on the road frequently…particularly in the abundant elite communities of Californ-i-a. A few extra dollars spent here is money well spent.
So far, we’ve discussed only liability coverage and that doesn’t apply to injuries to you and damages or loss of your vehicle. The rest of what we will talk about is not required by California statute.
First, let’s think about you. Personal Injury Protection (PIP) pays for injury to you and your passengers no matter who was at fault. I recommend PIP coverage of no less than $ 100,000.
Next, your vehicle. To most people, having both collision and comprehensive insurance is known as full coverage.
There are two purposes of collision insurance; to cover the cost of damages to your vehicle or, if your car is a total write-off, to provide a cash settlement. You will pay for a pre-specified deductible amount and your insurer will pay for the balance.
Comprehensive covers your car for theft and vandalism and damages caused by fire, animal impact and acts of God.
Another important coverage is protection against uninsured or underinsured drivers. You are not at fault, but he can’t or won’t pay. Your uninsured motorist coverage steps in.
Auto insurance in Southern California may allow “pay by the mile” plan.
California’s Insurance Board has put forth a proposal to allow insurers to charge consumers based on miles traveled. Just like buying prepaid minutes for your cell phone…you would pay in advance for a specified number of miles to be traveled in a fixed period of time. A monitoring device installed in the car will allow insurance companies to observe a driver’s car usage and charge accordingly.
Consumer advocate groups are backing the plan because paying for miles traveled, instead of an insurer’s estimate, will provide savings for low mileage drivers.
And more importantly to some, the program will provide an incentive for motorists to stay away from the road. Environmentalists say this type of car insurance in La Mesa will encourage motorists to drive less…leading to lower fuel usage, reduced pollution & less road congestion.
The plan looks like an all-out winner to me.
Tags: Auto insurance in Southern California, Auto insurance Southern California, California auto insurance, California state auto insurance, Car insurance in California, Southern California auto insurance