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.
Filiing an Auto Insurance Claim in California?
Making a claim for auto insurance in California often involves the big fish in claims terms of injuries related to the car accident. When you receive an injury as the result of an auto accident, it is in your best interest to contact a car accident lawyer. Injury claims are very high stakes and complicated, and while I can give you an idea of them so that you don’t go into your claim for auto insurance in California completely ignorant, you would do better if you had an attorney to help you on the issue.
These attorneys are good for a variety of things. Not only are they able to aid you in getting the health care that you deserve and need after your accident, but they can also make sure that you have the right documentation for all of your bills and other damages. Doing this, they are better able to prove to the company for auto insurance in California that you indeed do have the right to money for your injuries.
You cannot simply choose any lawyer for auto insurance in California, though. First of all, you need an attorney who is experienced on the matters. Hiring a general attorney at law who also dabbles in car accident claims will not cut it. It is best to either get an attorney who only works for victims of car accidents, or one who has does significant work in the area. When choosing a lawyer to help you with your claim for auto insurance in California, consider also what percentage of his cases he has one and how high the damages paid were for each of those cases.
Whenever you get into a car accident, it is possible that your company for auto insurance in California owes you money for several things, from lost wages to any kind of permanent physical therapy that you might need as a result, to something as unquantifiable as pain and suffering. To make sure that you get this, hire a car insurance accident lawyer.
How To Report an Auto Insurance Claim
It’s almost winter time, and around this season the amount of car accidents rises. The colder weather and icier roads are mostly to blame, but the constant rush of the holiday season has to take some of the guilt as well. When you’re in the traffic rush to get that last minute costume on Halloween or that last minute gift on Christmas, you need to take extra caution around other drivers.
One thing that will always stay the same, though, is that after you get into car wreck, you need to follow a few steps to make sure that your auto insurance claims process goes as smoothly as possible.
- What’s the damage?
Once you have your wits about you, check yourself and the others in your car to see if there are any injuries. Get out of the vehicle if possible and safe and do the same for those in the other vehicle, if there is one. If no one is hurt and you are able to move the vehicles, take them off to the side of the road. Once you are out of the way of further harm, examine the damages. If anyone is injured, you need to call emergency medical services.
- Who you gonna call?
Once you have done all of the above, you will need to get a police officer on the scene so that they can file a report. If the damages are small, they may not do so, but if you have even the slightest suspicion that the events of the accident might be contested, you need to do the foot work all by yourself.
The police officers will ask for your information, and for your version of the event of the accident, and will do the same with the other person.
- Why keep a secret?
It’s a known fact that the more you say something and the more people you tell it to, the more the notions of what really happened get twisted. If there are other witnesses, avoid talking about your experience of the accident with them. Try to only recount your version to the police officers. If you limit your storytelling, then you will be able to remember the details more easily instead of them getting mixed up with other people’s details.
- Where should my priorities lie?
You need to focus about getting all of the details about your accident once you have told your version of events to the police officers. Make sure you acquire the policy number, name, phone number, driver’s license number, make, model, license plate number, and so on from the person whose vehicle hit you (or whose vehicle you hit). Also get the names and numbers of any witnesses.
- When do I report it?
Right away. As soon as you are able to get off the scene of the accident and get to a phone, call up your auto insurance company and report the accident to them.
Auto Insurance Claims – The Other Party Does Not Accept Blame?
Reader question:
When the owner of an auto insurance policy in California who crashed into your car doesn’t want to take the blame, what do you do?
Mark
Thanks for asking, Mark.
Sometimes a person will be completely apologetic at the scene of the car accident, but when it comes time to file a claim with their auto insurance policy in CA, you find that they’ve told a whole other story to their car insurance company. The company that sells his auto insurance policy is going to go with his story unless forced to believe otherwise, because they want to pay the least money and stick by their policy holder. If it’s your fault, then they don’t have to pay anything.
Normally this happens when an accident hasn’t had a police report filed for it. There’s a good reason for calling the cops every time right there. However, sometimes even when a police officer comes, they don’t file a report. Why is that? It’s because if the police officer believes the damages of the accident to be $500 or less, then it isn’t necessary to file one. However, what might seem like only a little bit of damage at the time could be worth several thousand dollars at the mechanic.
While you might try to convince the police officer to follow a report, it’s not something that you can reasonably do. Instead, do things yourself. Ask witnesses and get their statements about the accident, get the other driver’s statement about the accident, and make sure you take your vehicle to a repair shop as soon as possible so that the damages can be checked out and no one can say that they didn’t come from that accident.
Make sure you get names and numbers of the witnesses, as well as the name, number, and policy number of the other driver. Take pictures of the vehicles, and if there is a police report filed, you can get a copy.
If the auto insurance policy still gets you a no to your claim, you can get more serious. Go to small claims court with the other driver, or even get an attorney. Make sure that they can’t push you around.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Personal Information for Car Insurance Application Online
Reader question:
When I get my car insurance online, what kind of information do they get on me?
Martin
Thank you for your question, Martin.
Every time that you apply for car insurance online, you will have to, of course, fill out an application with certain information, such as your name, age, and so on. In addition to that, your car insurance company or agent will then require some extra information and then seek out some more. They will need:
- Your annual mileage on your vehicle.
- Driving history.
- Number of years you have been driving.
Using this information, they will then determine what the price of your coverage will be for buying your car insurance online.
Your driving history is contained on your motor vehicle report, which gets its information from the California department of motor vehicles. This will have the dates and quality of any moving violations you have been ticketed for, any license suspensions, as well as any car accidents. The report will also be acquired for any other people who will be on the policy you are buying of insurance online.
If you get into bad trouble, then you may be required to provide your car insurance company with an SR22 form. Normally, you will have to continue with your SR22 filing for three years after the date that your license is restored to you. I say restored because you only get an SR22 after your license has been suspended, though not in all cases of license suspension. Even though your company only has to file the SR22 form for only three years, though, the conviction will usually stay on your record for seven and you will be charged the high rates accordingly.
The SR22 form is different from the SR1 form, so don’t get confused. Anytime that you get into an accident where somebody gets hurt, or when the amount of the damages is above $750, you will need to file the SR1 form within ten days with the department of motor vehicles in your area.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
California Teenage Driver Car Insurance Rate Quotes
- 11,177: teen drivers killed in car accidents between 1995 and 2004
- 3/4: portion of those accidents involving teen drivers in which the fatalities were suffered by the passengers of the teen’s car
- 5.6%: decline in the number of teen traffic deaths after the introduction of graduated licensing laws in 46 states
Some of the statistics sound frightening, but in the end things seem to be getting better, thanks to new laws on the books in most states that refrain from giving young drivers full licenses until certain benchmarks have been met. While this is, indeed, much of the reason for the decline in fatalities, other factors should not be left out.
Looking at the numbers, even after the decline, can make any parent shake at the thought of sending their teen out on the road, and it’s no wonder with these numbers that the average CA car insurance rate is so high. However, if you take the proper precautions, such as working with your child on their driving skills even after the license has obtained, and buying the best car for your teen, you can ensure to an extent that they have a safe driving experience, and you can save a lot of money on car insurance.
So what should the perfect teen car look like, the one that will garner the very best CA car insurance rate? Here are some rules to go by.
- Size matters.
The impact of a car’s size on its CA car insurance rate is often distorted in the public’s mind. Some notions that might seem to be common sense at first, really aren’t. For example, we all know that the insurance provider will give you a cheap CA car insurance rate if you have a safe car, and vehicles such as SUVs are very safe, right?
Yes and no.
SUVs can be safe for the driver, but car insurance companies have to take more than just you into mind when they are deciding on your CA car insurance rate. SUVs are very safe for the people inside them, but they cause quite a bit of damage. Part of this is because of their size, but some comes from the fact that their bumpers are on a different level than the bumpers of other vehicles, so instead of hitting the other car’s bumper and absorbing some of the impact, the bumper of an SUV will rip through the other vehicle’s body, causing more damage to the vehicle and more fatalities within.
Another common misconception is that a small car will get you a good car insurance rate. Also not true, for just the opposite reason. Small cars don’t cause a lot of damage, so your car insurance rate for your liability coverage will be cheap, but they do take a lot of damage. If you’re going to buy comprehensive or collision on your new car, then the car insurance rate is going to hit you hard there.
So…what kind of car should you get for your teen, to ensure the maximum amount of safety and the best car insurance rate? Well, we can take a little lesson from Goldilocks in this field.
- Just right.
The best car that you can choose for your teenager, in order to stay safe and get a cheap car insurance rate, is a mid-sized car. It’s also a good idea to choose a car that is a couple of years old, rather than a new one. New cars are expensive to insure, especially if the name attached to them is under 18. Picking a car that’s still around 2000 up will ensure that you get both the modern technology and safety features, while avoiding the high car insurance rate.
It should also be a given that you need to avoid getting a sports car, a convertible, or any other type of high performance car for your teen. It’s proven through various studies that these sorts of cars encourage reckless behavior, especially among young people.
How Can You Protect Yourself Against Auto Insurance Fraud?
Reader question:
What can I do to prevent auto insurance fraud, aside from paying attention to my repairs and invoice?
Monica
Thank you for asking, Monica.
There are more ways than one to commit auto insurance fraud, so you should be on the look out even when you aren’t filing an insurance claim. Fraud can start at the stop sign, and attention to detail is one of the best traits that will not only help you in preventing fraud, but also aid you in allowing you to be safer against car insurance accidents.
- Salvaged titles.
There have been a lot of problems recently in the insurance biz with salvage yards selling previously totaled cars without a salvage title. A salvage title is required for a vehicle that has been completely wrecked, because not only do these vehicles lose a lot of value, but they also have a lot of problems in the future. If you get a vehicle that is salvaged but does not have the proper title, you will probably be far overcharged for your auto insurance.
- Repair shops.
I went into detail about this already, so I won’t go on too long. However, often repair shops will commit auto insurance fraud by repairing and replacing things that do not need to be replaced and inflating prices. If you shop around for car repair shops and check your invoice, you can avoid a lot of this.
- Initiated accident frauds.
Another big problem that may be of danger for you is when another car will instigate you to get into an accident with them which will technically be your fault, but which wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t tried to make it happen. For example, if you are at a four way stop sign and the other car waves for you to go ahead, and once you start going they go anyway, it will seem to be your fault because you do not have the right away.
In order to avoid these incidents, you should practice defensive driving. You need to drive at least three seconds of distance behind the car in front of you, five seconds if the weather is bad or the road is icy. Try taking a defensive driving class.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Tips For Getting Teen Driver Car Insurance Discounts
Maybe it’s because they’re young, and maybe it’s because they are new drivers. I would suggest that it is for both reasons. However, whatever the cause is, 16 year olds have been found to get into ten times as many car insurance accidents as do middle aged drivers, which is why kids their age cost so much to insure. As a parent trying to get a decent price on your car insurance premium, here are five of my ten steps that you need to take with your teen to insure that your premium gets low and stays there.
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Know the law.
Make sure that your kid learns the rules of the road and doesn’t forget them. Being unaware of different traffic laws is one of the big things that is involved in teen accidents, causing more claims on your insurance policy. Teens might remember important laws about right of way and using blinkers when they take their test, but later on they easily forget. If you keep learning, even after your teen gets their license, your risk will go down.
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Be a role model.
Let me use my mother as an example. She’s a terrible role model for young drivers. She drinks (not alcohol, but any drink is a distraction), eats, reads, and writes while driving. My brothers and sisters watching her might be inclined to take after her. However, if you set a good example for your new driver by following the traffic laws and being careful on the road, then you’ll save your self some Lancaster CA car insurance claim headaches in the future.
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Keep them close.
The best way to make sure your teen is insured is to put their name on your insurance policy. Everybody who is driving is required to be insured, so you can’t be too scared about the prices. They have to go on your policy.
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Reward and punish.
One great things that many car insurance companies offer can also be used as a tool for parenting, and that is the good grade discount. It’s simple: if your kid gets good grades in school, enough to get the discount, then they can use the car. If not…well, less time driving is more time spent studying, right?
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Don’t skip driver’s ed.
I didn’t take driver’s ed as a teen, and I’m okay for it, but many people aren’t. Don’t let your teen avoid getting his or her license, and don’t let them avoid driver’s ed if they get their license after eighteen. Make sure they are enrolled in a comprehensive driver’s education course so that they get some first and second hand knowledge of the roads.
How To Get Cheaper Car Insurance For Your Teenager
Car insurance premiums aren’t cheap, and even less when you add your new driver teenager to your policy. This is why you need to make the most of this new addition, pay attention to discounts, and encourage responsible behavior so that you can avoid future accidents. Car accidents are the number one cause of death among teenagers, and they often involve alcohol in the mix. Here are a few steps to follow to keep your teen safe on the road and, as a result, keep your car insurance premium cheaper.
- Pick the right car.
Every teen wants a sports car, a convertible, a big truck, whatever, but that doesn’t mean they should get one. I’m saying this even if you’re rich and have the money, and even if your teen has a job and can pay the monthly car note. When I was working my first job, one of my co workers was 16 and had just started buying a car from his dad. It was a big truck, and a new one, but all of his check went to it, almost. Guess what happened the first night he drove that car?
He crashed it. Yep, and then they had to file an insurance claim. I want you to think about the fact that kids are more likely to wreck cars, so you don’t want to spend too much money on them. Also, flashy cars are more encouraging of irresponsible behavior. On top of all that, the more expensive and dangerous the car, the higher your insurance premium will be.
- Share the burden.
Your kid is the one that’s making your insurance premium so high, so why shouldn’t they contribute? You can get them to do this by requiring them to pay part of the premium with proceeds from their job, or by having them do extra chores around the house. Whatever works for you.
What Kind of Auto Parts Is Your Insurance Company Going To Put On Your Car?
Car accidents bring a lot of headache. Whenever you get into a serious collision, there will most likely be the necessity for doctor visits, numerous calls with your car insurance company, and many people don’t have CA car insurance coverage for rental cars, so of course you’ll have to be doing all of this in someone else’s back seat. Think your done? You’re not. There’s one more thing to worry about, and you probably thought it was all taken care of.
You have to figure out whether you want OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts to be used to repair your car, or aftermarket parts.
Is there any difference?
Car insurance companies and others who use the aftermarket parts claim that there isn’t much of one. It’s no wonder that they do such a job of promoting the good of aftermarket parts, considering that non-OEM parts are a lot cheaper than the OEM parts. As a matter of fact, they’re about half the price. Car insurance companies can play dirty about this, and often do. Normally, if you want to get OEM parts on your car, you have to pay the additional price. So if the aftermarket part costs $400, and the OEM part costs $800, you have to pay $400 of that OEM price. It can come out to a considerable chunk of change.
If you’re with a car insurance company that is considered to be on the expensive side, then you might not have any problem, nay, be encouraged to get OEM parts. However, most car insurance companies will give you trouble.
One of the big reasons to avoid aftermarket parts when you make a car insurance repair claim is that they make your vehicle’s value go down because you are putting parts that are not made for that exact vehicle into it. When you repair a BMW with a part that isn’t from BMW, it cheapens it. Therefore, if you want to sell it or trade it in, you’ll get less money, since dealers and even buyers often look into the background of the vehicle they are purchasing to see what parts it was repaired with.
The big problem is if you have a rental car. If you get a rental car repaired with aftermarket parts, you might lose most or even all of your security deposit. The reason for this is that with aftermarket parts it is considered to not be in the same condition as the one it went out in.
Some also claim that aftermarket parts aren’t safe. They say that these parts have not gone through the same safety crash tests as the OEM parts have, and thus cannot be trusted. However, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), one of the big crash testers, debunks this myth, saying that there’s no reason to believe that aftermarket parts would perform any different in crashes than OEM parts.
At the end of the day, you choose what parts are used on your car. If you are worried about saling or trading in your car for a good price, you might want to go with OEM parts. However, if that doesn’t bother you so much and you’re a little strapped for cash, it isn’t such a bad thing to go with aftermarket parts. But if you do choose aftermarket, you should the Certified Automotive Parts Association to make sure that it is up to standard. And remember, most of all, that the repair shops will ask you what kind of part you want. You have to tell them, or you have no right to complain.
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