How to Buy

Automobile Insurance

We are all required to buy insurance in California but most people, even people who are highly educated, don't know what they are buying.

"Full coverage" is a meaningless salesman's term. Don't trust an insurance agent to get you the right coverage. Their legal obligations to you are limited.

REMEMBER THIS:

The most important coverage that you buy is uninsured motorist protection.

  • This is the coverage that protects you when you are the one that causes an accident. It covers you for both property damage and bodily injury. However, you are only protected up to the limits of the coverage that you buy. Most of the time those limits are stated as a coverage for bodily injury per person and per accident and a separate coverage amount for property damage. For example, you could buy a 100/300/50 policy which would provide $50,000 in coverage for damage to the other person's automobile and $100,000 in coverage to each person suffering bodily injury in the other car but capped at a total of $300,000 no matter how many people are injured in that car.

  • This coverage protects you when you are injured and the other driver is at fault but has no insurance. MORE IMPORTANTLY, THIS IS ALSO UNDERINSURED MOTORIST PROTECTION. This coverage will protect you and your family if you are hurt and the at-fault driver has insufficient coverage limits to fully compensate you for your injuries and losses. Like liability coverage, it is generally sold as an amount per person or per accident. An example will clarify the advantage of this coverage: The minimum liability coverage limits required under California law are only $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident and your ER bill alone could exceed this amount. If an at-fault driver only has $15,000 in coverage and you have a $500,000 UM policy, then you could recover up to another $485,000 from the insurance company depending upon your injuries and losses. If you are seriously injured the difference in coverage will be extremely important to you and your family.

  • This coverage allows you to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses if you are injured in an accident, whether the accident is your fault or someone else's fault. The big advantage is that you can choose your doctors and it will cover chiropractic care and even acupuncture. The medical treatment must be reasonable and necessary, causally related the accident, and occur within the time frame specified by the policy (usually 1 to 3 years). The cost must be reasonable and the carrier will only pay up to the limits of the coverage that you buy. It can also be used to pay deductibles and copays.

How much coverage do you need?

 

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH INSURANCE COVERAGE

There are a few things to consider in deciding how much coverage to purchase. First, you will want very high uninsured motorist coverage to protect you and your family from the financial impact of serious injury. Second, the more assets you have the more insurance you will need. Third, you should be socially responsible and make sure that if you hurt someone in a moment of distraction you have the appropriate coverage to take care of them. And fourth, don't skimp when buying insurance as it is a very important purchase.

The absolute minimum coverage that you should have for both Liability and Uninsured Motorist is $100,000 per Person and $300,000 per accident.

We recommend that you have more. You will likely be surprised as to how little it costs to have $1,000,000 in coverage. At least price it out and get the most that you can afford.

Which Company Should You Choose?

 

It is the policy of this firm not to recommend a particular company. However, there are a few companies that, based upon their claims handling practices, we would not choose as our insurer:

❌ Allstate Insurance Company

❌ Mercury Insurance Group

Remember, the cheapest insurance is not always the best. We would also suggest that you stay away from insurance companies that have to resort to television commercials with cartoon or other characters to sell their insurance or carrier's whose only selling point is that they are cheap.