Cheap California Liability Only Auto Insurance

Reader’s Question:

I have California liability auto insurance. What sort of coverage does liability insurance has?

Isaac

San Francisco CA

If you have the California liability auto insurance you have coverages that cover others that you may cause damage or harm to in case of an accident that is your fault. Liability insurance though coverage does not provide you any coverage if your vehicle is damaged. Optional coverage of comprehensive and collision covers your car less the deductible you choose, in case of an accident regardless of whos at fault.

California liability auto insurance covers damage your vehicle does to others, damage for which you are legally responsible. If you do not have liability insurance you will need to pay the damages out of your own pocket.

Liability coverage is the foundation of a car insurance policy that is being required in most states. States differ when it comes to required minimum amount liability insurance. Typically states require

• Liability coverage of Bodily Injury (BI) and
• Property Damage (PD).

California liability auto insurance pays for any bodily injury and property damage expenses as well as your legal bills, medical bills and lost wages of the person you injured.

How Your Credit Report Affects Your Car Insurance Rate

Your credit doesn’t affect your driving skills, and there are plenty of drivers with the worst credit ever who are also the best drivers around. However, if you want to get cheap car insurance, then having a lot of negative accounts on your credit report might prove an obstacle. Although the car insurance company does not look at your report the same way as, say, a car dealership does, bad is bad and if one thinks your credit report isn’t so great, the other will as well.

Using credit reports to affect your car insurance rates is no longer an occasional thing. Almost all (upward of 90%) car insurance companies check credit before they give out a policy, and the same goes for companies who do home owner’s insurance coverage. When they check your credit report, they will gather the information into what they call an insurance risk score. Over fifty percent of the companies in the above ninety percent in turn take that insurance risk score and use it to decide if you will have a  insurance premium or an expensive one.

According to Fair, Isaacs, and Co., a company which comes up with insurance risk scores which are in use by over three hundred car insurance companies all over the country, while both credit scores and insurance scores use the same information to come to their result, they are not exactly the same.

As a matter of fact,  car insurance companies look at the report in a different way when they weigh the score. In the end, the scores of credit and insurance can end up having a difference of as much as ten percent.

When you get a credit score, normally they are looking at how stable your accounts are, whether you are constantly opening and closing new ones and so on. It’s also important to your FICO credit score how much you owe on certain things. With insurance scores, they just want to know that you pay, and pay regularly.

My Auto Insurance Was Just Canceled – I Need To Get A Better Company This Time

Reader question:

Is it easy to get auto insurance in California after you’ve had your policy canceled?

Margeret

Thank you for asking, Margeret.

Actually, it can be pretty hard to get auto insurance  if you have something on your record like a previous cancellation by a car insurance company. This is why it is so important to take care with all of your automobile insurance dealings because if you don’t, then you will have to pay the price. And that price can be as much as a ten percent increase, and that’s only if you can find a company for auto insurance that wants to give you coverage at all.

When you go looking for auto insurance, the company will be able to look at your CLUE report, which aside from containing your claims history, will also have your previous cancellations and nonrenewals. This may influence them to deny your request for coverage, but if they do take you on then they might make you pay your entire yearly premium up front instead of allowing you to do the month by month installment. This can be a good thing for some people, because it is actually slightly more expensive for the installment plan. However, most people don’t have that much money at once.

Another thing that having your auto insurance  canceled is that it will affect your credit score. Not all auto insurance companies report to credit agencies, but it is definitely something to think about even if they say you don’t, because most wouldn’t give a straight answer on this. Credit scores are also used hen determining how much you will pay for your auto insurance in California, and if you have a bad credit score, then that price could be pretty high. Even if your driving record is otherwise stellar, it could still hit you hard.

If all else fails, you’ll have to either go to a company for auto insurance in CA that sells policies to customers who are considered high risk. If you do this, you will pay more. And if no one will accept you, then you will have to consider going with the high risk pool for auto insurance which costs even more.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Cheap Liability Auto Insurance in California

Reader’s question:

I live in California but I’m currently working in Canada. What do I have to do to have insurance on my vehicle? I just want the cheapest liability only coverage.

Judy

Good question Judy.

It is compulsory to have car insurance in Canada. The liability insurance is required by the law for the protection from other people for the damage that you may cause in the event of an accident.

All motorist visiting Canada can be assured of the coverage using their current insurance policy if their insurance company agreed with the Canadian authorities to provide the coverage. There is no amendments necessary on your insurance coverage.

You should also get the yellow non-resident inter-province Motor Vehicle Liability insurance card from your insurance provider. This would serve as a proof that your insurance company has agreed to provide the minimum legal required coverage in any jurisdiction in Canada in where you travel. You will need to keep this card all the time in your vehicle as a proof of your insurance in case an officer will ask for it.

Goodluck!

MariCAR