How Do Auto Insurance Companies In California Calculate Their Rates?
Reader’s Question:
How do car insurance companies calculate the rate they charge in California?
Imogene
Good Question Imogene.
The insurance premium you pay to your car insurance are either set by the state or determined by the insurance company that you have depending on your jurisdiction.
Insurance companies combine a number of different factors to determine the individuals premium. Each insurance companies have different ways of looking at things that is the reason why this will produce different variations in prices.
Here are some of the elements that insurance companies consider that affects your final insurance rates:
The kind of car you drive
Car insurance companies have different claim experiences of the makes and models of the car to produce the insurance rate of an individual. They check on the repair cost and the risk of the car being stolen and then price it accordingly. One of the factor would be the current value of your car in the market.
where you live
Insurance rates are generally higher in the metropolitan area. There is a higher likelihood that accidents, theft or vandalism may happen in cities with higher density of traffic and people.
your driving record
One of the major factors that affects your insurance rate is the number of years that you have been licensed to drive and your previous insurance records. If you have a clean driving record, your premiums will be much lower than with those that had convictions or accidents.
how your vehicle is being used
The more you use your vehicle , the higher the odds of you getting involve in an accident. People who do not do much driving will have a lower insurance premium than those who always use the vehicle or those that use extensive amount of driving. If you have inexperienced drivers in the household, your insurance premium will likely to be higher.
These are just some of the factors that affects your premiums. That is why it is best to get several quotes and compare all the prices to make sure you will get the best car insurance that will get you fully covered and saves a lot of money in the long run.
Goodluck!
MariCAR
Personal Information Needed by Car Insurance Company
Reader’s Question:
What information do insurance companies get if I apply for a car insurance in California?
Ray
Good question Ray.
The insurance company or an agent will ask for certain personal information if you apply for a car insurance. This would help them determine if you are eligible for the coverage and they will be able to know the price for your coverage. The information that will be collected if you apply for a car insurance are; driving record, automobile mileage driven and years of driving experience.
A Motor Vehicle Report will be ordered for all the drivers on the insurance application by the insurance company on some states. The Motor Vehicle Report is an official record of a motorist that can be obtained from the Department of Motor Vehicle. This is being use to verify any traffic offenses, license revocation and any accidents of all driver’s listed on all application.
In case of any unsatisfied judgment, major traffic or moving violations. license suspension and failure to show liability insurance, a California Insurance Proof certificate or SR22 is needed. This is being filed by the insurance company to the Department of motor vehicles. Normally the requirement period is up to three years. Any minor convictions remains on the record for 3 years, 7 years for the major convictions like hit and run, reckless driving etc.
Goodluck!
MariCAR
Why Does Car Insurance Have To Cost So Much?
Nobody wants to think about car accidents, aside from trying to drive well and avoid them. However, sometimes things happen and you can’t avoid them, so having a car that will stand up well in a car accident will both protect you and get you a good car insurance rate for your collision premium. With more information coming to light about what makes a car safe, even the car insurance companies are trying to get changes in the law so that car manufacturers have to construct their cars in a safe way.
Changes in laws have played a big part over the years in making damages less serious and the incident of car accidents fewer. The passage of laws that require seat belt and air bags, lower the speed limits and outlaw drunk driving, have been pushed by the insurance companies, among others, and they are not doing the same with other measures.
And accidents are certainly good motivators to these insurance companies. According to the government’s information, the costs that car accidents had were about three hundred dollars for every single person in the United States, or almost two hundred and thirty one billion dollars. That’s billions of dollars in California alone, the most populous state in the entire country, right before Texas. It is also one of the states with the highest amount of uninsured drivers, so although the study didn’t specify, it probably has the highest amount of costs as well.
The National Highway Traffic Association already performs crash tests on cars, but they are trying to get more tests to be done and more available to consumers so that we can make the right decision when trying to buy a safe car. This government associations wants us to know how the cars we want actually drive and react in a crash. They also want the companies that make the cars to wise up and start making better ones and safer ones.
At the moment, having a safer car will save you money on your insurance, and will probably continue to do so, just like you are still able to get discounts for having air bags, which are mandatory. However, requiring more safety means that car prices will go up because cars will be more expensive to make.
How To Get a Car Insurance Discount
Reader question:
I’ve only been driving for a couple of years, and I’m trying to figure out ways to get a good car insurance discount. Any ideas?
Rhonda
Sure, plenty, Rhonda.
Any young person who wants to get a car insurance policy must at first be completely daunted by the high price. For drivers under twenty five, the typical car insurance premium is twice as much as that for older drivers, and even higher if you’re male. Lucky for you, you don’t have that last hurdle, so it will be even easier to get your insurance premium lowered to an amount that you can stomach.
I expect that you only took your driver’s education course a few years ago. You might not have, as most states allow drivers to get their license without taking a class if they are eighteen or older. That’s what I did, and many people do it every year. If you fall into this category, then you should check out taking that driver’s education course anyway. You might have read the handbook that describes traffic laws in order to study for your driving test, but that isn’t quite the same. If you take a driver’s education course, even if you already know everything they are teaching, then you can save a few bucks on your car insurance premium.
There’s another course that you can take that would get you some savings on your insurance premium, and that is a defensive driving course. Most car insurance companies will offer you a five to fifteen percent discount for taking this kind of course, and you can learn a lot from it as well. These courses teach you plenty of necessary information on the rules of the road and avoiding accidents.
And you don’t have to be young to take a defensive driving class, either. Seniors can score even bigger savings on their insurance premium if they choose to take one of these courses in order to refresh their driving memory. In fact, Hartford AARP offers defensive driving classes for a cheap price, but you can get them in many other places.
It helps for more things than just a discount on your car insurance, too. Most young people get some kind of ticket for a moving violation before they turn twenty five, and usually if you take a defensive driving course then they will take the ticket off your record. If that happens, then you won’t see a raise in your insurance premium, and again, you’re saving money.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
California Car Insurance Discounts
For awhile I thought this particular discount was a no brainer, but it turns out that there are plenty of people out their that don’t know about it. The reason for this is that, while I struck lucky and my first car insurance company told me about it, there are many car insurance policy holders who have never heard that you can get a discount for the safety of your car. There are obvious connections between the car that you drive and the cost of your premium, yes, but not always do they connect these to the safety features of the car.
As a matter of fact, several states, California being one of them, actually require car insurance companies to give you a discount on your car insurance policy if you have such typical safety features as seat belts and air bags. However, while these are the most common discounted safety features, many car insurance companies want to attract more customers and thus extend their discount to cover more features.
Some of my favorite features that you can get discounts on your car insurance for are electronic stability control and tire pressure monitors. These are two of the most impressive safety features out their, and while the stability control is included on most new cars, the tire pressure monitor is still working its way into the car manufacturing business.
Electronic stability control goes a long way towards stabilizing your vehicle and preventing accidents. When your car goes out of control, it compensates and thus you don’t have to worry about panicking and ending up in a rollover. As for the tire pressure monitors, studies have shown that many of the accidents on our roads were caused or made worse by tires that were improperly cared for. By monitoring this care, the tire pressure monitor can assure that your tires never reach a danger point. If you’re interested in saving money on your car insurance premium, ask your insurance company if they offer discounts for additional safety features.
How Do I Get Cheaper California Auto Insurance Rates?
Reader question:
I’ve heard that you could get a cheaper California auto insurance rate based on what kind of job you have. Is this true?
Mark
It can be.
California auto insurance rate discounts based on occupation are some of the more rare kinds of discounts, because not all CA car insurance companies have them, but there are several that do. If you find that you are in an occupation that regularly gets a California auto insurance rate discount, then it would do well for you to ask while you are shopping around for a new car insurance company. As it is, there are two kinds of occupations that are going to get you the best discounts on your California auto insurance rate, and those are:
- Teaching.
- Engineering.
Some car insurance companies will offer discounts on the California auto insurance rate for teachers by themselves, but most teachers get their discounts by joining a teacher union. However, if you choose to join a teacher’s union for the California auto insurance rate discount, then you ought to make sure you want to join them for other reasons as well. Normally, the discount you get on your California auto insurance rate only just covers the membership dues you will be paying for being part of the union. However, these unions offer lots of services to teachers apart from discount California auto insurance rates, so it’s a good idea to join anyway.
As for engineering, car insurance companies have done research which shows that these people are less likely to get into accidents, which is their reason for giving engineers discounts on California auto insurance rates. Why do they get into fewer accidents? Who knows? Car insurance companies claim that their professions require more attention to detail, which they say is something that permeates their day to day life. As such, engineers are the sorts who will pay more attention to the road, and thus file fewer at fault claims.
You don’t even have to have the job yet to get the discount, in some cases. Several companies are offering a cheaper California auto insurance rate to people who simply have degrees in the field of engineering, as well as in other math and science related fields. If you think you might be qualified, ask your car insurance company before you sign up for a policy.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
How Long Does a Traffic Violation Stay On My Record in California?
Reader’s question:
How long does a violation stays on my driving record in California?
Tanyah
Thank you for asking, Tanyah.
Convictions like hit and run, reckless driving under the influence (DUI) and other traffic offenses will remain on your driving record for 7 years from the violation date and counted as 2 points.
Other traffic violations and offenses remains in your record for only three years from the violation date and counted as 1 point. Accidents are reported for three years from the date of the accident and if you are found at fault, it is normally counted as one point.
Your drivers license may be suspended due to A DUI or failure to provide a proof of financial responsibility and it will be reported for three years from the reinstatement date or the proof of the termination date. If you fail to appear for DUI offenses, it reported for 10 years from the date of the violation. Failure to Appears and Failure to pay fines are reported for 5 years from the date of the violation.
Goodluck!
MariCAR
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