How Long Will DUI Charge Stay on my Record?

Reader’s Question:

Last 2005 I got a DUI in New Jersey but I now live in California. How long will it stay on my record and will it affects my record in my new state?

Harold

Good question Harold.

Your DUI conviction will stay as part of your permanent New Jersey driving record. Since you have moved already to California you should check with the CA Department of Motor Vehicles to check if they have placed this DUI conviction or any other moving violations that were previously on your New Jersey driving record on your California driver’s history.

California legislation extends the reporting period for DUI offenses from 7 to 10 years for all public requests, and that includes insurers.

The new law states that you may not be able to qualify for a good driver discount until 10 years from the date of your violation. Up until 2007 a DUI may have been considered by an insurance carrier for premium surcharges for a period of 7 years but now it can be considered for ten years in California.

Since your DUI happened out of state you may contact the California Department of Insurance, to get information on how long an insurance company in California can rate you on this NJ DUI from 2005. You may speak to your insurance agents if you have any more concerns regarding your insurance premiums.

Goodluck!

MariCAR

How Long Does an Accident Stay on Your Car Insurance Record In California?

Reader’s Question:

How long does a car accident stay on your insurance record in California?

Tom

Good question Tom.

All accidents are reported by the law enforcement officer to the Department of Motor Vehicle that will show upon your driving record unless another person is at fault in the event of accident.

The California assigns one point to at fault accidents. The points will be placed on your driving record and all the information regarding the incident. This information will stay on your record for three years.

Whenever a person applies for a policy, renews his insurance or makes any changes in their auto insurance policy, the car insurance companies check the individuals car insurance and driving records. If your accident is on the MVR, this will definitely affects your insurance rate.

Insurance companies keep records of your claims related to accidents as well as the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The insurance companies can access the comprehensive loss underwriting exchange to find out what previous claims you’ve had.

You may contact the California Department of Insurance to find out if California allows insurance companies to charge surcharges or raise premiums due to accidents.

Goodluck!

MariCAR

California Car Insurance Quotes For Teen Drivers

Reader question:

Why is my California car insurance quote for my teen driver so high?

Amy

Thank you for your question, Amy.

I know the feeling. I didn’t drive very much when I wa a teenager, and since my mother didn’t have a car insurance policy, neither did I. Before I graduated from high school, I had managed to save up enough money to buy myself a car. It was cheap, several years old, a piece of junk all around, but in its hey day it had been considered a sports car, which was one of the reasons for why I liked it. Seeing as I now owned a car, I had to get a California car insurance quote.

The number blew me away. And it makes you wonder. Why is your  car insurance quote always going to be higher if you’re a teenager or if you’re the owner of a sports car, no matter how old?

It’s what the people who give you that car insurance quote live by, and it’s called risk.

The way the car insurance companies see you is as a stack of risks. Think of yourself, your life, everything about you all boiled down to how likely you are to file a claim. Everything about you is related to this, and some things will get you a better insurance quote, and others will get you a worse  insurance quote. There are some things you can do to lessen your risk, but it’s pretty much set in stone.

However, even stones can be chipped away. Just because you fall into a certain high risk group does not mean that every  insurance quote you get is going to be the same. The California Department of Insurance imposes pretty strict rules on the car insurance companies, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that they are competing. So if one company is able to save its policy holders more money, then you will be able to get a better  quote there, regardless of your risk.

If you go shopping for a new California car insurance quote every time your risk changes, then you’ll save yourself hundreds, maybe over a thousand dollars a year.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

California Car Insurance Law – Do I Have To File a Claim?

California car insurance law doesn’t mandate that you file a claim after every accident. It’s entirely up to you to do so or not. Some people choose not to after some accidents because they don’t want the negative spot on their car insurance report, but you have to make the correct decision so that you don’t pay for it in the future. Most car insurance companies want you to at least tell them about an accident, even if you don’t file a claim, but in some cases that may not be advisable.

• Deductible.

Here’s the first test of whether or not you need to file a car insurance claim. There’s no California car insurance law about deductibles, but most companies have one for their extra insurance coverages, that is, not for liability but for all the rest. If your repairs are going to cost less than your claim, then there’s no reason for you to file a claim. However, if the repairs will cost more, then you should go ahead and file a claim.

Try to get an estimate from a reliable body shop before you make the decision about the price. If you aren’t sure about how much the repairs will cost, then you can’t make a valid decision about whether to file a claim or not.

• Other spots on your record?

Sometimes when you have a car accident, you’ll already have something on your car insurance record that makes you less than desirable, or high risk. If you already have a previous ticket for a moving violation, or if you have gotten into an at fault accident before, then you should check the law with the California department of insurance to see when a car insurance is able to decide on nonrenewal for you.

• Anybody there?

If you get injured, then you absolutely must make a car insurance claim. You never know what complications could happen, and even if you have health insurance, it is often the case that medical insurance will not elp you with things such as lost wages. If you need help with these things, then you will need to make a car insurance claim.

If there is another driver involved in the accident, then it is a good idea to at least tell your car insurance company. California car insurance law allows claimants to sue the other driver, so if the other driver comes up with a lawsuit and you haven’t said a word, then you’ll be in trouble.

California Department of Insurance For Insurance Quotes?

I’ve been saying what a great place to visit the California Department of Insurance (DOI) website is for awhile. It has studies, statistics, phone numbers, complaint ratios–basically everything you need to know, practically, when attempting to make an informed decision about your online California auto insurance quote. Now they have another thing that will make it easier for Californian consumers to decide on their new auto insurance company.

Located on the California Department of Insurance’s website, this new online California auto insurance quote comparison is based on surveys among car insurance providers that has given the DOI an idea of what their quote rates will be like. While the surveys do not provide you with a specific number, they do serve as a great basis for deciding which California auto insurance company offers the best premium prices.

The risk and online California auto insurance quote comparisons are divided into groups, based on factors that would normally cause some fluctuation in your car insurance premium rate. For example, your gender, age, or amount of coverage. There is also a survey to take you through the online California auto insurance quote comparison, which will first inquire the amount of coverage that you want, and then continue narrowing the field through survey questions.

This service isn’t online offered for online California auto insurance quotes. It also extends to things such as home insurance, long term care, Medicaid supplementary insurance, and title insurance.

Car Insurance Problem in California On a Rental Car

Reader’s question:

If a rented vehicle got involved in an accident who are responsible for the damages?

Amber

Good question Amber.

If you are renting a car from the rental company, you will be asked to sign a form that says that you will be held responsible for the damages caused to the vehicle as well as the damages caused to the other vehicle even if they were at fault in the accident.

According to the California Department of Insurance’s guide to car insurance, the renter will be held responsible for the damages to the vehicle in accordance to the rental agreement. They would normally offer a Damage waiver which serves an agreement between the rental company and the renter.

You must review your own car insurance policy to check any applicable extension policy regarding renting cars. You must also verify the liability coverage in the event if the rented vehicle got involved in an accident.

If your car insurance provides coverage for rental cars, you do not need to purchase the insurance from the rental car. Some credit card companies also offers insurance if you use it with rental car companies.

Almost in all states, renters are obligated and will hold responsible for the cars they use or rent. But this does not apply to all states. In Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin and the District of Columbia, car rental companies can be held responsible for the damages on the rented cars.

Goodluck!

MariCAR

Who Has The Cheapest California Car Insurance?

Reader’s question:

Is the car insurance cheaper in California than New Jersey? What is the insurance policy and the point system in California?

Peter

It actually depends on different factors if you can get cheaper rates in California than in new jersey. But usually the California insurance is cheaper than in New Jersey.

The average insurance premiums for a California vehicle owners in 2003 was $950 while in new jersey it was $1,365. The national average on that year was $914.

Both states set at 15/30/5. The new jersey sate requires $15000 worth of personal injury insurance (pip) while it is optional in California.

California proposition 103 established guidelines in which your auto insurance rates will be determined.

Here are the primary factors:

1. the driver’s driving safety records
2. the number of miles driven annually
3. years of driving experience.

There are actually 16 secondary rating factors to determine your insurance rates and can calculate your individual premium depending on the insurance company’s filing with the California department of insurance.

Marital status, claims history, geographic area of where car, type of the vehicle are just some of the secondary factors that affects your premiums. Your driving records is a factor considered to determine your insurance rate and it is not an insurance eligibility points assigned like there are in NJ.

Goodluck!

MariCAR

Low Cost California Auto Insurance Rate Quotes

I was speaking with a friend the other day about the dwindling prospect of low cost California auto insurance. Said friend has recently graduated from college, and has never been on anything but his parent’s car insurance policy. They paid all of the premiums throughout high school and college, and now that the onus is finally on him, he’s finding it a little to heavy to handle. But, knowing that it is illegal to drive uninsured in the state of California, he’s cut the staples and dealt with it, for the sake of his driver’s license. However, with his low recent college graduate income and a kid on the way, he might not be able to keep up with it for long.

What he doesn’t know (don’t worry, I’ll tell him), is that low cost California auto insurance is within his reach. The state of California, after all, had to come up with some way to combat the fact that there are around three million people without car insurance on their roads, and many reasons for this. A sizable portion of the population of California can’t insure themselves simply because they don’t have the money. But the low cost California auto insurance program takes a big step towards eliminating uninsured drivers by offering low cost California auto insurance coverage to good drivers who don’t make enough money to insure themselves.

This is not a taxpayer paid program, either. These very affordable rates are the way they are because car insurance companies can afford to make them so on their own. These rates cover the risk of these good drivers. The program is run by the same department that runs California’s assigned risk pool.

At the moment, forty two counties in California offer this low cost California auto insurance program, and the state department of insurance is considering sixteen more counties, which will probably be part of the program by the end of the year, by November at the soonest. To find out more about the low cost California auto insurance program, you can call 1-866-602-8861.

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.

California Auto Insurance Company Video

Here’s a video I got from YouTube with a Transformer theme about choosing the best auto insurance company. It’s pretty cool looking, and makes me want to see that movie even more. Even better, it reminds me of something I’ve been wanting to blog about: how to choose the best California auto insurance company. Here in Cali, just like everywhere else, we spend a lot of time getting car insurance quotes and checking out discounts and perks. Now, I’m a big proponent of getting quotes and discounts, but what we often forget is that we have to consider more than just what the company offers when we go to a California auto insurance company, but also have to investigate the company itself. It’s like when you see one of those ads that say, “Make $5,000!! working from home!! Only 30 minutes a day!!” We automatically think, “Yeah, right”. Why should our auto insurance be any different?

The first thing that I want to address in what I intend to make a few blog posts about getting the best California auto insurance company, is that you need to make use of what the California department of insurance website gives you. I’m on their website right now, and under the consumer section they have plenty fo resources.

• Is this California auto insurance company even licensed?

Licensing is the first place to start if you’re going with a local California auto insurance company. Obviously, if you’re getting insured with Progressive or something, checking if they’re licensed by the California department of insurance can be pretty silly. However, there are plenty of local California car insurance companies that offer great rates and services, but if you want to include them in your considerations, you should double check to see if they’re licensed first.

The California DOI has a very easy way of doing this. All you have to do is type in the name of the company and search. If that’s a little too hard for you, you can make yourself nauseous by scrolling through the list of licensed companies (which is what I did…arrrrgghh).

Check? Moving on.

• Is this California auto insurance company well liked?

That may not sound like something that the department of insurance would measure, but it sure is, with a little spin. All (or most, but California is part of the most) state departments of insurance have information about the complain ratios of every licensed California auto insurance company. Normally they track the number of complaints per 1000 customers, and looking into it and comparing the complaint ratios betweent the companies that you’re considering can help you decide which has the best claims and customer service.

Don’t think that just because the company is a big, national one that it’s automatically going to do well in this department. I’ve had some bad experiences and good ones with bigger companies, but I’m also very satisfied with the rates and services I get from my local California auto insurance company, and you might feel the same after looking at the complaint ratios of the companies on your list. Every company needs to be investigated before you take out a policy with them, no matter how many customers they have.

• Influences?

So, should your findings from the California Department of Insurance website be the deal breakers on your list of every California car insurance company that has so far passed your test? Not exactly. Everything needs to be weighed individually, and each aspect given its own consideration. However, if you have the cheapest car insurance rates with one company, but it also has a 200 out of every 1000 complaint ratio, then maybe that should send you searching again.