California requires that all drivers have liability insurance and it will be electronically monitoring all insurance companies to see what new policies have been written and which have been ended. This high-tech approach makes it easy for the state to catch those in non-compliance with its laws.
Moving from one state to another can mean a new set of motor vehicle and insurance laws for you to learn, but all states have the same primary insurance law, you cannot drive legally without at least having a liability insurance policy on your vehicle. These laws are put in place to protect everyone out on the road from damage caused by another driver.
The state of California though, has gone one step further and they electronically keep track of the insurance policies on all of the registered vehicles in their state. The state keeps track to make sure that you are carrying the minimum amount of insurance on your registered vehicle and also that the vehicle that you own is properly registered as “in-use” with the required insurance on it or “non-operational” if it does not have insurance on it. Failure to comply with these strict insurance laws can get you into a lot of trouble.
What Are California Minimum Requirements?
Like all other states, California not only requires that you carry liability insurance they also require that you have a certain amount of liability coverage to satisfy this requirement. California’s basic liability insurance is 30k in coverage for injuries in the other car and 15k per person. 5K in insurance will cover damages to the other persons car.
If you still need to drive, but cannot afford your insurance premium and are not able to use public transportation, California does offer a low cost insurance program. To see if you qualify for this program or to find out more information visit the California Low Cost Automobile Insurance Program’s website at www.aipso.com/lc .
How Does California Track Me?
All insurance companies that write policies in the state of California are required to report to the Department of Motor Vehicles electronically every time you purchase or cancel your auto insurance. This is a state law that insurance companies must comply with and this is how the state keeps track to make sure that all of its drivers are carrying the minimum insurance required.
They also keep track of the insurance of their drivers by requiring that all drivers provide proof of valid insurance whenever they renew the vehicle registration for the vehicle that they own.
What Happens If I Don’t Want To Comply?
When you cancel a California car insurance policy you have 45 days to report that you have replaced coverage either with the same insurance company or a new one. Bad decisions come at a cost in California, if you drive without insurance on your vehicle, the state will find out and suspend your registration and possibly your license. If you cancel car insurance, buy a new car and don’t insure it in 30 days or if you falsify insurance documents you will be suspended.
If you get pulled over with a suspended registration, you will not only be given a ticket, your vehicle could be impounded also. If you don’t have basic liability insurance and cause a crash, all costs of damage to your vehicle and the other persons vehicle is coming straight out of your pocket. As you can see the fees to pay your ticket, get your vehicle out of impound and even for the cost of an accident far outweighs the amount of money that you would be saving by not paying your insurance premium. If you have had your vehicle registration suspended you also get to pay a reinstatement fee to have the suspension lifted after you provide proof of valid insurance.
For more information on these and other California car insurance requirements, contact your local agent or visit the website for the Department of Motor Vehicles at www.dmv.ca.gov .