Understanding California Car Insurance Requirements

Car insurance is something you need in California, if you want to drive. It is the law. That said, what exactly are the insurance requirements you must meet? In this article, we discuss that just that.

California is one reason why when it comes to car insurance issues. Simply put, this means that should a party in an accident be allocated responsibility for the accident. The reason may be shared, but it is less common. Regardless, the party has been responsible for causing the accident is on the hook for the cost of repair and so is their insurance company.

To run in California, you have to have insurance to cover any damages you are found to have caused. There are two sets of insurance coverage, you must have under the laws of the State. The first is bodily injury liability insurance. The other is property damage liability coverage. Let us take a closer look.

Bodily injury insurance

Under California law, you must maintain $ 15,000 / $ 30,000 coverage for bodily injury. As the name suggests, this insurance covers any responsibility assigned to you for bodily injury to another person. If you drive through a stop sign, hit another car and the other driver is hospitalized, your bodily injury policy will cover their bills. The insurance will cover up to $ 15,000 of the bills for each event, but not more than $ 30,000 a year, whether the total number of accidents you cause.

Property damage liability

Under California law, you must maintain $ 5,000 in property damage liability. This insurance is used to repair any damage you cause to another vehicle. This is not a very large number, so you might choose a higher figure to cover you if you are driving a car worth more than $ 5,000.

At this point, you wonder how you buy all of this insurance? Most of us just buy a policy and do not really know how it works. Do not worry too much. Under California law, insurers must bundle them together and sell them as a policy. Put another way, you have this coverage, even if you do not know it!

The traffic in California is completely insane in many areas. Accidents are common. Make sure you are in compliance with California law, so you do not run into problems with authorities.