Auto Insurance in California – What You Need Now & Savings on the Way

As with most states, California state car insurance law requires all drivers to carry three fundamental liability components.

Bodily Injury Liability or BIL of $ 15,000 per person

Total Bodily Injury Liability (Total BIL) of $ 30,000 per accident

Property Damage Liability or PDL of $ 15,000 per accident

In insurance industry jargon, this is known as 15/30/15.

But to rely on this coverage alone, would be sheer foolishness. Multi-car accidents and ambulance chasing lawyers commonly drive the cost of an auto accident to several hundred thousand dollars. If you are at fault and you have gone with the minimums, you personally, must cover the shortfall. So, you’ll have to sell your property, deplete your bank balance and maybe even more…how do you feel about that?

Based on experience, I strongly suggest a bare minimum of 100/300/100 and more if you’re often on the road…particularly in the many elite communities of the Golden State. Spending a few extra bucks here is money well spent.

Until now, we’ve talked about liability coverage only. That doesn’t cover injuries to you and/or damages to or loss of your automobile. The rest of what we will talk about is not required by California statute.

First, let’s think about you. Personal Injury Protection (PIP) provides injury, death and disability coverage for you & your passengers. I recommend PIP coverage of no less than $ 100,000.

Next, your vehicle. To most folks, full coverage means the combination of collision and comprehensive.

There are 2 reasons for collision insurance; to cover the cost of repairs to your damaged auto or, if the vehicle is “totaled”, to compensate you in cash. You are liable for a predetermined “deductible” amount and the insurer pays the balance.

Comprehensive covers your car for theft and vandalism and damages caused by fire, animal impact and acts of God.

Another essential coverage is protection from uninsured drivers. The accident is not your fault, but the guilty party can’t pay. Your uninsured driver coverage kicks in here.

Auto insurance Southern California may offer “Pay-per-mile”.

California’s Insurance Commission has tabled a proposal allowing insurance companies to charge consumers based on actual miles driven. Similar to buying prepaid cell phone minutes…consumers would pay upfront for a specified number of miles to be driven over a limited 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 protection groups are pushing for the proposal because paying for driven miles, as opposed to the insurance company’s projection, should allow cost savings for low mileage motorists.

And some say more importantly, it will incenticize drivers to stay off our roads. Environmentalists say this type of auto insurance La Mesa will encourage motorists to drive less…meaning lower fuel consumption, reduced pollution & less road congestion.

The plan looks good to me.