Car Insurance Rates Up

Not only are home insurance rates going to increase, but many car owners should be sitting down when they open their auto insurance premium notice. There are are several reasons for this.

Car repairs, especially the repair of electric vehicles, have doubled or more. In many cases, parts of cars cannot be “repaired” in the normal use of the word. Entire modules that are quite expensive have to be replaced. In the past, a simple bumper was just that. Now, newer car bumpers contain several sensors and other electronic safety modules, both front and rear. Windshields now house electronics. A side mirror on a new car can cost $3,000. Electric car batteries cannot be repaired — they must be replaced.

To top it off, millions of drivers who cannot afford car insurance just don’t have it, and insured drivers pay a price for the under-insured and uninsured driver. Car owners should carry high uninsured and under insured limits. In California, the basic amount required by state law is only $15,000/$30,000 plus $5,000 liability. This is peanuts if you wind up being hit by a driver with this small amount of insurance, and you wind up in a wheelchair or worse. You might have an accident with an out of state drive with little or no insurance. This make collection of damages even harder to pursue.

Check your policy and know your coverage limits. The maximum amount is $500,000/$1,000,000.

There are about 7 million (17 percent) uninsured vehicles in California. Other states have many more! Your policy is only good for the amounts of your limits if an uninsured or under-insured car hits you.

I was hit in my wife’s car two years ago by an unlicensed illegal immigrant who was driving his cousin’s out-of-state insured car. It took months to recover the cost of repairs after their insurer offered us one-half of the cost.