Getting California Auto Insurance

Getting California Auto Insurance

When getting a California Auto Insurance policy it is important for consumers to work with an agency that has experience working exclusively on with California residents. There are many differences in California policies when compared to policies from other states, including the minimum amount of coverage allowed by law, non credit based rating, available discounts and driving record consideration.

For any policy written for vehicles that are garaged in the state of California the minimum coverage allowed by the law is $ 15,000 per person for bodily injury, $ 30,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and $ 5,000 for property protection. These limits will vary state by state. In order to be in compliance with the California Auto Insurance laws all policies are required to carry these limits as a minimum. Limits of coverage could also be purchased on a combined single limit basis, such as; $ 100,000 combined limit for all injury and property damage since this would exceed the minimum required.

California Auto Insurance policies now also differ from other states since the passage of proposition 103. The law no limits the amount of information that insurance companies are able to use to determine rates. This regulation does not allow for credit to be used as a factor to determine rates for any private passenger personal auto policy in California. Standard rating factors in the state are garaging zip code, annual mileage, marital status, driving record, and vehicle specific information such as value and performance.

Another difference would be the discounts that are allowed to be applied to policies. Many policies offer multi-policy ,  multi-vehicle, good driver, and years of license experience or superior driver discounts. California differs from other states that are rate based upon the age of the drivers on the policy rather than the years of driving experience.

All California auto insurance policies are now required to offer a discount to good drivers that have at least 3 years of continuous driving experience and no more than one point on their driving record. The state requires that drivers that qualify for the good driver discount receive a rate that is at least 20 percent less than others that do not qualify.

California residents should always consider working with a California Auto Insurance agent or broker to ensure that they are purchasing adequate coverage, being rated appropriately, and receiving all available discounts that the consumers qualify for. Policies vary state by state and it is very important for consumers to ensure that they receive appropriately rated policies.