There are dozens of reliable car insurance carriers in the state of California. And it’s good to have a range to choose from when shopping around for your insurance policy.
California state law requires a minimum bodily injury liability limit of $15000 per person per accident and $30000 for all the members involved in the accident. The property damage liability coverage per accident is 5000$ for each accident. This means that the damage to all property in the accident will be covered by the insurance policy. But the ceiling limit will be only 5000$. Now this is not going to be enough for even a minor accident, considering that a good paint job and a bumper would cost upwards of $5000 for a premium car. It is just a state law which has set these limits for the benefit of the general population.
The average auto insurance rates in California was $1650 per person back in 2009. The main issue is that most people think that the state fixes the rates of auto insurance policies, but this is not true. Auto insurance is like any other commodity or service; you can negotiate or shop around to get better rates.
Within the state of California itself the rates have changed by 6% over the previous year. Hence, if you already own an auto insurance policy, it is worth the effort to contact your insurance company and ask them for a reduction. The best way to do this is to tell them that you are not satisfied with the rates since the national average rates have gone down. They are sure to give you a discount as soon as you tell them that you will be looking around for better rates.
For this with a good driving record, it will not take too much trouble to get the right policy. But if you do not have that good a driving record, you must make an extra effort to get the right policy. There are a lot of high risk driver policies available in the state of California. You need to shop around and try to get the right deal.
You can also find both big names and smaller insurance companies in the state of California. You can go with the big names if you have a good track record. They will be a little more expensive, but at the same time they are extremely reliable. Whereas if you go with a smaller company, you will be assured of a good rate but you cannot be sure about whether you will get your money’s worth when you do have the misfortune of meeting with an accident.