Huntington Beach Car Insurance

Buying Huntington Beach can insurance can be intimidating, but familiarizing yourself with insurers in the state of California and various ways that you can save money will make you feel much more confident.

To make the process easier and less time-consuming, it is in your best interest to learn about the financial responsibility laws in the state and then get valuable consumer tips that will help you build the best policy with the best insurer.

Here is a consumer buying guide to car insurance in Huntington Beach that will help you make informed and educated decisions.

Once you've read this article, be sure to enter your zip code above to compare car insurance rates from top companies in Huntington Beach!

How Much Insurance You Must Have Vs. How Much Insurance You Need

Auto insurance is a product that proves that you are financially responsible enough to get behind the wheel and pay for any medical bills or repair bills that you are negligent for.

As a contract that protects you against unforeseeable financial loss, buying coverage to provide you with the liability and the property coverage that you need is ideal. This is why state most drivers in Huntington Beach choose to purchase car insurance rather than posting a cash bond with the DMV in the amount of $35,000 to legally drive.

In Huntington Beach, California, there is a major difference between how much insurance you need and the amount of insurance that the state requires you to carry.

Understanding the difference and why you should elect to carry more than just basic coverage is critical and can save you a significant amount of money in the future. The state required coverage limits and options will protect your financial life and your assets, but they will not protect you.

Having a basic understanding of how each coverage works will help you be the informed consumer that you need to be.

How Much Coverage You Must Have in Huntington Beach

The California vehicle code says that all drivers who have a registered car in the state must have a minimum amount of vehicle insurance to cover the damages that they are liable for. These coverage options are called Bodily Injury and Property Damage.

Bodily Injury cover pays when you or a permissive driver cause injuries or death in a vehicular accident.

Property Damage cover pays when any covered driver is responsible for property damage to property that they do not own. You, as a driver in Huntington Beach, must have at least:

• Bodily Injury - $15,000 per individual, $30,000 per occurrence
• Property Damage - $5,000 per occurrence

How Much Insurance You Actually Need

One of the biggest mistakes that consumers make when they are buying insurance is choosing a basic car insurance plan before considering all of the other coverage options.

Basic requirements will satisfy the financial responsibility laws, but they do not offer you very much protection from lawsuits and wage garnishments. It is very important to price the cost of higher limits and additional types of coverage so that you have real peace of mind every time that you start your ignition.

What types of coverage are available to protect you?

Liability insurance, which is the only state requirement, provides a third-party driver with protection and also protects your assets. While requirements do help protect your finances, the optional forms of cover will protect you by providing you with medical and property protection.

Here are the options that you will be offered by providers that are licensed to offer insurance in the state:

• Medical Payments - pays for the hospital bills, ambulatory expenses and doctor visit costs of you and your passengers no matter who is at-fault for the incident.
• Uninsured Motorist - pays for bills resulting from your bodily injury in an accident with a driver who has no insurance.
• Uninsured Motorist Property Damage - pays for your collision deductible or the cost to repair your car (up to $3500) when it is not fully insured.
• Comprehensive - pays for the repair bills or for replacement of your car when it is stolen, catches fire or is vandalized.
• Collision - pays for the repair or the replacement of the covered car when it is damaged or totaled in a covered accident.
• Roadside Service - pays for a specified amount of the costs for towing, lockout, tire change or gas delivery services.
• Rental Car - pays a car rental agency for the fee to rent a replacement car when a claim is being settled.

It is up to you to price the cost of coverage types before you reject them and you drive on public roadways without enough insurance.

How to Familiarize Yourself with Providers in California

When you are entering into a financial contract with a company in the financial sector, it is extremely important to take the time to research the company so that you know that you can trust them to fulfill their end of the deal.

You pay insurance premiums so that you can receive benefits if you ever experience an accident.

The insurer's responsibility would then be to investigate claims in a timely manner and offer you fair payments for your claim. As you comparison shop and you are reviewing premiums quotes, you should always qualify the insurer before committing.

Here are tips to help you choose the best insurer with the best coverage pricing:

Find Financially Secure Insurers

Believe it or not, financial solidity is more important than pricing when you are buying a protective product like car insurance.

This is why you should consider the stability of the company in the sense of financial ratings before you even look at a quote. If you need help assessing the financial strength of an insurance provider, there are independent agencies that do the rankings for you.

The most well-known agencies that rank the financial strength of finance companies are AM Best, Standard & Poor's and Moody's.

When you are comparing the ratings of providers who do business in Huntington Beach, make sure that you know how the rating systems work and how they may differ from one another. As long as companies are rated secure, you can keep that provider on your list.

Check the Provider's Licensing Status

For the insurance that you buy to be accepted by the state, you must buy your coverage from a provider that is licensed by the regulatory agency referred to as the California Department of Insurance.

Be sure to check the licensing status of companies that you have discovered are financially secure. If the company is active, they have rates filed and accepted by the department.

Review the Complaint Index and Trends of the Provider

Insurance companies who do business in the entire state of California have to be licensed because the department of insurance regulates the industry to protect consumers.

If consumers have a complaint about the products they have purchased or the services they have received, they can file an official complaint to be investigated. Insurers who are found guilty of discrimination or fraud must pay a fee or could possibly lose their license.

This is why it is so important to check the complaint index to see if a company is known for unfair dealings.

Complaint files are public record. You can check the complaints through the Department of Insurance, or through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners company search tool.

The easiest way to check the index is to go to the NAIC search tool because you can check financial ratings there as well. This tool will allow you to see how many complaints have been filed, how many are closed, and what the complaint ratio is compared to other insurers.

Check the Service Options

Insurance companies have their own strengths, and some are stronger in customer service than others.

If customer service is very important to you, you should check what your options will be. Some insurers specialize in offering their customers with face to face service in an agent's office or district office.

Other companies take a more modern approach and offer advanced features where you can ask questions, change your policy and make payments online. Deciding what is important to you and which options that you will use is important in itself.

Companies that offer more than one type of option typically have higher premiums than those that are more specialized.

As a consumer who knows the coverage requirements and the additional types of cover that can be purchased, you have the power to build a custom policy that falls into your budget range.

The best way to find the most competitive rates is to comparison shop and to take advantage of all of the discounts that you qualify for.

If you want to comparison shop in a limited amount of time, use a rate comparison tool online that will give you immediate access to the rates with the top-rated companies that deal in Huntington Beach. After reviewing each company, you can choose the most affordable insurance plan.

To compare rates from multiple car insurance companies today, just enter your zip code below!