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 of $ 30,000 per accident

Property Damage Liability (i.e. PDL) of $ 15,000 / accident

The insurance business knows this as 15k/30k/15k.

But please understand that to rely on this coverage alone, would be asking for trouble. Multi-car collisions & legal fees commonly boost the cost of an automobile accident into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you’re at fault and you’ve gone with the minimums, you personally, are now on the hook for the shortfall. So, you must sell your house, empty your bank account and probably alot more…how does that sound?

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 more dollars here is value for money.

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 suggest 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.

Collision insurance has a two-fold purpose; to cover the repair cost of your damaged vehicle or, if “totaled”, to make a monetary settlement. You will pay for a pre-specified deductible amount and your insurer will pay for the balance.

Comprehensive insurance protects your vehicle against theft & vandalism and damages from fire & smoke, animal impact and Mother Nature.

Another important coverage is protection against uninsured or underinsured drivers. It’s not your fault, but he won’t pay. Here’s where your uninsured/underinsured driver coverage comes to the rescue.

Auto insurance in Southern California introduces “pay-by-mile” program.

CA’s Insurance Commissioners have tabled a plan allowing insurance companies to charge based on actual miles driven. 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 mileage monitor will be installed in the vehicle, and insurance companies will charge on the basis of miles driven.

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 maybe more importantly, the plan will act as an incentive for drivers to stay off the pavement. Environmentalists say this type of auto insurance in La Mesa and other California cities will encourage motorists to drive less…leading to lower fuel consumption, reduced pollution and less road congestion.

The plan looks good to me.