Does California Liability Auto Insurance Covers Car Repairs?
Reader’s Question:
Hi there. I got in a bit of trouble last night and bumped the car into a tree. Will my automobile insurance pay for the repairs to my car? How can I ask them to pay? I have liability insurance.
George
Long Beach, CA
Hi George, I hope you are all right after your accident. First of all, you will need to look at your automobile insurance papers or call your agent in California to find out if you are covered for the damage to your car. If you bought just the minimum automobile insurance required by the state, I’m afraid you might not have the right coverage as most states only require liability insurance which will pay for damages to other people or property.
In order for your insurance company to pay for the damages to your vehicle, you must have first signed up for collision insurance. However, they will not pay for the full amount of the bill. You will still have to cough up your share of the deductibles before they will pay for their share of the bill. Before you file a claim, first evaluate whether you actually need to. If the damage is minimal, and you can afford to pay for it, it may be better to take care of the damages yourself. If you do file a claim, know that this will be placed into your record and may affect your automobile insurance rates in the future. If you still wish to proceed, I suggest you ask your agent about your automobile insurance companies’ process for filing a claim. This will most likely involve some paperwork where you will be asked for details of the accident.
I Want Cheaper California Automobile Insurance!
I used to think of my California automobile insurance premium bill as an expendable sort of thing. That is to say, when I was broke and paying it would leave me with about twenty bucks left over, I chose not to pay it. A lot of people think this way, especially people who have never gotten into a car accident or been pulled over by a police officer. This is why I felt that way as well, but as you can see, two no insurance tickets later, it didn’t do me any good. However, there’s more bad to it than just the tickets.
I’m lucky, because after I had let my insurance lapse a few times, my car insurance company still let me renew my policy and didn’t charge me anymore. However, most insurance companies aren’t like this, and missing a payment will not only end you with a canceled policy, but you might also find that in the future car insurance companies are somewhat reluctant to take you on as a policy holder, and if they do they might charge you more. The reason for this is because they find that people who let their insurance lapse are not only unreliable customers, but have a higher rate of claim filings.
California automobile insurance law will say when your car insurance policy can and cannot be dropped. Most of the time, companies only have strict reasons for why they may cancel or choose not to renew your policy. In some cases, if you don’t have the payment in by the date it’s due, your policy will be canceled, and sticking it in the mailbox on that date doesn’t count. Usually, though, you will be able to have a grace period of about fifteen days after you fail to make a payment during which you can continue your policy by making the payment.
Green California Auto Insurance Video
This is a hilarious and incredibly dorky video from the Ask A Ninja series on YouTube about global warming (it’s the boy bands’ fault, ya hear). As I was watching it today, it reminded me of something I recently saw on the Esurance website. It’s called SOS, and it’s about the company’s campaign to help the environment. As California automobile insurance policy holders, we’re some of the most environmentally aware people in the country. Whether you believe in global warming or not, though, it couldn’t hurt to follow a few of Esurance’s tips to help the environment. Here they go, California automobile insurance policy holders:
- Turn off your engine.
Whenever you’re at a stoplight, it doesn’t take very long to switch off your engine and then turn it back on when you are ready to go. If you do this, instead of idling, then you will produce fewer emissions of CO2, and on top of that, you’ll save some gas. It’s a win/win.
- Tire pressure.
I mentioned tire pressure in another post as one of the big causes of accidents as well as something that makes many accidents more serious. If you check your tire pressure regularly, then you can drive safer, save money on gas, and save your CO2 emissions.
- Carpool.
Even if your mother didn’t teach you how to share, it isn’t so hard to get used to. I know a lot of us California automobile insurance polic holders are used to public transportation already, so carpooling shouldn’t be too hard. Every commuter lets out around 3.4 tons of CO2 every year, so if you fill your car up with coworkers, you can cut that down.
- Get a hybrid.
There are several California automobile insurance companies (Esurance, strangely, is not one of them) that now offer discounts for people who own hybrids. They say that hybrid owners tend to be part of an older, married, more responsible group that files fewer claims for at fault accidents, making them a lower risk. So, if you’re in that standard category, you get double the California automobile insurance discount, and if you aren’t, you get a good one in any case. As for the CO2 emissions, it’s a no brainer that the less gas you use, the fewer emissions you will make.
Esurance is also doing its part to stay green, by following environmentally safe practices in their business and encouraging it among their customers. However, if I were you I would look for a company that offers the hybrid discount, since they’re really interested in offering a green incentive to their California automobile insurance policy holders.
What Is GAP Automobile Insurance Coverage ?
If you think you have all your coverages straight and you’re ready to choose the best California automobile insurance policy, along I come to throw in something that will send you all out of whack. It’s called gap insurance, and most of those pages on the internet that purport to tell you everything you want to know about automobile insurance leave it out, but for anybody who is purchasing a car, it’s is a must have.
My new, 2007 Chyrsler PT Cruiser is worth about $15,000 right now according to Kelley’s Blue Book. However, I owe slightly more than $18,000 on it, and the more I pay and the less I owe…the less my car is worth! They call this an upside down car loan, because at some point (okay, at most points) during the time you are paying off your car, you will owe more for it than it is worth.
Here’s the catch.
When you total your car, and you file a claim with your automobile insurance company, the amount that they pay you to get another car is what the car is worth, period, not what it’s worth to you. So if I were to completely wreck my car beyond repair right now, my automobile insurance policy (sans the gap insurance coverage) would entitle me to fifteen thousand dollar, leaving me three thousand dollars in the red.
This is not something you want to deal with. Do you want to be without a car, and on top of that have to pay for a car you no longer have?
The way we have to solve this is to add gap insurance to your automobile insurance policy. What gap insurance does is cover the gap between what your car is worth and what you owe, so that you don’t end up paying for something you don’t get to use. A lot of car financing companies and banks that loan you money to get a new car will require you to have gap insurance, but many don’t. Mine, for example, does not require gap insurance, so if I hadn’t already known about it my car might have just gone without.
Sometimes you don’t even have to get gap coverage from your automobile insurance company. Instead, it will be part of the deal with your lease, so you’ll be covered right from the start. Here’s a couple things that you need to think about when getting gap automobile insurance:
- Usually you just get the gap automobile insurance as soon as you get the car, but if you forget or didn’t know about it, almost all automobile insurance companies will let you get at any time.
- If your lease requires gap insurance, you have to get it. No excuses.
- In order to get gap insurance, you have to have full coverage. That means comprehensive and collision coverage.
Remember that just because you have gap insurance doesn’t mean you can default on your loan once your car gets stolen or wrecked. I make my car payments on the 28th, so if I totaled my PT Cruiser tomorrow, I’d still have to make that payment on the 28th. You don’t get to stop paying until you get that gap CA automobile insurance check.
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