California Car Insurance Fraud – Crappy Auto Repairs Cost You Money
I think that, after reading a report that says that over fifty percent of auto repairs performed in the state of California are overpriced, the necessity of the California auto repair bill of rights comes to seem even more important. These statistics are mostly the result of fraud, which sends California car insurance rate rising. If you are more aware of your abilities to report fraud and are more aware of the repair process so that you can spot it, then you can help this rate of fraud drop, and along with it your California car insurance rate.
According to the organization that performed the study, of around five hundred cars that were checked after they had been fixed, almost half of the repairs that were done on them were not even requested–they were, essentially, repairing things that weren’t even broken. Now, it may not seem like too big of a deal, but consider the fact that of those, the normal price paid for these unnecessary repairs is almost five hundred dollars.
Every year in the state of California, over three billion dollars are paid out for repairs from car insurance accident claims. Of that amount, over six million dollars are from unnecessary repairs. The average amount of the unnecessary repair in most vehicles is one fifth of the total claim amount. Eliminating this extra spending on fraudulent repairs could cause a sharp decrease in the average California car insurance rate for policy holders.
If you want to have your own car that has recently been repaired under a car insurance claim, you can call the Bureau of Auto Repair and have it inspected. In order to qualify, the claim amount must be $2,500 or above, and the repairs have to have been done recently, within the last four months since the repairs.
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.
Best Car Insurance Rates in California?
Okay, California has some pretty high rates of theft among cars, so if you want to get the best car insurance policy, you need to be careful with your vehicle. One, because if you aren’t, then you are at much higher risk for having to make a comprehensive car insurance claim, and two, because if you aren’t then you will probably have to pay more on your best car insurance coverage premium. Some people think that these measures only need to be taken when you have comprehensive coverage, but this is a situation that you want to avoid all around. Here is some advice.
- But my car is already protected!
A lot of people buy a new vehicle, which comes installed with some kind of anti theft device, and they think they are good to go from there. However, these manufacturer installed devices are the most common, and thus the car thieves who have some experience know them like the backs of their hands. If you want to get lower prices on your best car insurance premium, then you need to think further than the club (also easily overcome) and perhaps get some aftermarket parts.
- Nobody would want to steal my car.
Yeah, that’s what you think. One point is that often, car thieves are not after the car itself, but they want to sell it for parts. And your car doesn’t have to be nice and new and pretty to get parts of it stolen. Air bags are stolen at a rate of seventy thousand a year, and my ex boyfriend’s ugly, junky stereo was stolen out of his fifteen year old car, and the window broken. Car thieves are out to get more than just the obvious expensive cars.
If you want a rule to go by, then older cars are pretty much of equal likelihood to be stolen, because their parts often aren’t made anymore. As for new cars, normally the ones that hit the top of popularity lists are stolen. If you want some hard numbers, check out the website of the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Do You Need Help Finding a Good California Car Insurance Company?
One thing you probably think about when you’re paying your monthly bills is not something that you would normally consider when choosing a California car insurance company. That is to say, can they afford it? Believe it or not, just because you own a business that provides a service to people does not mean you are rolling in Washingtons. There is the occasional insurance company that can’t afford to roll in anything bigger than Lincolns.
In some cases, it might not be necessary to check out how your insurance company stands financially. For example, if you’re going with one of the bigger national companies, then there’s a very small chance that they can’t afford to pay your claim. While lots of big companies do fall into financial ruin eventually, you can pretty much bet that you’re going to be safe if you get insured through, say, GEICO. If it will ease your mind you can check it out anyway, though.
However, if you’re going through a smaller local company, then it is very important to check and make sure that they have a good financial standing before you go with them. I would call this the final step, just to make sure before you actually buy the policy. You can get ratings of their financial strength online through sites like A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s. The ratings that you can get through these companies will tell you how able your car insurance company is to pay you for your car insurance claim.
Let’s look at the A.M. Best ratings. These range from A++ to D, although there are further classifications of E (the companies in trouble with the law/department of insurance/somebody), F (the insurance company is being liquidated), and S (solvency). If you want a company with good financial backing, you should stick to those with B+ and up.
As for Standard & Poor’s, they go from AAA down to CC, along with R which has the same meaning as A.M. Best’s E, and NR which means that it doesn’t have a rating. Unless it’s a big, well known company, I wouldn’t touch it if it’s an NR. As for the rest, you should have a car insurance company that is BBB or up.
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