Insurance World

See, a couple months back a young married woman ran a red light (accidentally) and smashed into my car. Astonishingly enough, she had 2 weeping children by her side with no driver’s license. As she frantically scrambled for her phone to call her husband, he arrived shortly with the insurance information scribbled on a crumpled piece of scratch paper.

Being the nice guy that I am, I wrote down the information and then reluctantly reported the incident to my insurance company.

My insurance agent rang back within a couple of hours, and guess what I hear next? The information that this nice young woman gave me was totally bogus! The woman who totaled my car was did not have car insurance. What!

I couldn’t believe this. I was had! All of us hard working, law abiding, car insurance paying citizens fork over hundreds of dollars a month in order to comply with our mandatory car insurance laws. It seems like we are paying the bills to push back our dismay at spending large sums on something we cannot immediately see, touch, smell, or hear. Soon enough everybody will be forced to acquire car insurance.

California legislators are now debuting a three-phase plan focused on uninsured motorists. California legislators are creating this plan for people like me, for people that do pay insurance, for people that don’t make bogus claims, for people that are law abiding citizens like you and me. This plan will be enforced with the sole intent on making uninsured motorists pay the ultimate price.

Get ready uninsured motorists, here comes the bad news! As of January 1st, insurance agencies are required to electronically submit evidence of financial responsibility to the DMV. This means, if your car insurance faults at any time, the DMV will be notified immediately. What does this mean for uninsured motorists? The DMV will send you a nasty little note along with your registration renewal notice requesting that you submit proof of financial responsibility before they will ever renew your registration again. This is a must people. There is no getting around this one.

Alright people, let’s do the simple math here. If you get pulled over on or after July 1 of this year, do you really think that the excuse that you left your car insurance card in your house really going to fly with the authorities? Come on. These are the fat kids in high school who you used to pick on. It’s payback time in their eyes. As of right now, law enforcement has the same access to the current status of your insurance just like the DMV. Don’t fret, because I have good news for everybody. Read on.

The final cut throat will come on October 6th as when the California DMV will be required to suspend the registrations of uninsured motorists. Wait, what does that mean? That means there is no getting around it. It means there is no where to go. It’s your dead end buddy. Insurance is a must.

Now, I’m a nice guy. I’m a very understanding person. I’m willing to look at both sides of the fence here. Given, some people just outright choose to not have car insurance; however there are the few out there that simply cannot afford the sky-high car insurance premiums that are simply out of budget and quite frankly out of reach for some motorists.

No worries, the state of California has the bases covered for most. See, as of April 1, the California Low Cost Auto Insurance Program is being offered to low-income drivers in Alameda, Fresno, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties, previously only available in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

This low cost insurance is available from any licensed insurance agent at a cost of just over $300 per year. Lower-income drivers who meet the qualifying guidelines will be able to protect themselves and their families while complying with the law. More information about the program is available at the state department of insurance website.

If you drive into Los Angeles County today, look around you, because it is estimated that one out of four people on the road are driving without car insurance.

When the new laws kick in, sorry Charlie, but you must get car insurance, and you must get car insurance right now.

Auto insurance in general, which includes car insurance is an insurance consumers can purchase for cars, trucks, and other vehicles. It’s mainly meant to provide protection against losses incurred as a result of car accidents and also thefts of vehicle. It also includes losses arising due to natural calamities. To have your car insured is mandatory by law. When you insure you get a “policy” which is based on a variety of factors including the type of car you drive, as well as what kind of insurance you want, as these policies are actually a package of different types of insurance coverage. They can be classified as:

· Liability - This coverage pays for accidental physical injury of the body and damage to others’ property. Injury damages include medical expenses, pain or suffering and lost wages. Property damage includes damages to the automobile. This coverage also pays for defense and court costs. State laws fix how much liability coverage you must purchase, but you can also get more coverage if you wish.

· Collision - This insurance pays for damages to your vehicle caused by collision with another vehicle or object.

· Comprehensive - This coverage pays for losses or damages to the insured vehicle that doesn’t occur in an auto accident. The possible types of damages comprehensive insurance covers include loss caused by fire, wind, hail, flood, vandalism or theft.

· Medical Coverage - Pays medical expenses regardless of whose fault it was as long as the expenses are caused by an auto accident.

· PIP - Personal Injury Protection (PIP) - This coverage pays medical expenses for the insured driver, regardless of whose fault it was, for treatment due to injuries arising in an auto accident.

· Uninsured Motorist - Pays for your car’s damages when an auto accident is caused by another driver who doesn’t have liability insurance.

· Underinsured Motorist – Pays for your car’s damages when an auto accident is caused by someone who has insufficient liability insurance to settle all your claims.

· Rental Reimbursement - This type of insurance will pay for a rental car if your rented car is damaged due to an auto accident. Often this coverage has a daily allowance to be paid for at the time of renting a car.

Certain insurance policies club together a number of these types of coverage. Depending on the laws that exist in your state you have to choose the insurance you want for your car. Even though the state may not require extensive insurance, extra coverage may be worth the expense as it is possible that you may be straddled with thousands of dollars because of an auto accident.