For teens, it’s different. A car symbolizes freedom and movement. It’s an adventure. It’s looking “cool” in front of the girls. It’s having a way to go to the party. It’s independence and lack of restrictions. Unfortunately, it’s never safety or insurance fees.

However, insurance companies do take teens into consideration, and they react by increasing their fees.

I’m going to be honest here. If you’re considering giving a car to your teenager or buying a car for him, don’t. There is a reason why insurance companies raise their fees for teen drivers. They really are a risk on the highway. You may turn on the radio to listen to music. A teen driver will listen to his iPod, send a text message to his friend, play races with others, turn his head around 100% degrees to look at that cute girl in the mini-skirt, change music on his MP3 player, etc.

By not allowing your teenage son or daughter to drive, you’ll keep him safer and avoid increasing insurance fees.

However, if you do decide to let him or her drive, you should contact your insurance company and find out if they use driver averaging. If they don’t, then you may reduce your fees by letting junior drive only the old and used car and cover it for liabilities only. That way, you won’t get any increases on the newer and more expensive cars that you have, and for which you want better insurance protection.

If your insurance company uses driver averaging, then this scheme won’t work and your insurance rates will go up anyway. In that case, you can either look for another insurance company that doesn’t use driver averaging, or just inform your teenager son or daughter that they aren’t allowed to drive.

One last piece of advice. At the very least, make sure that your teen child somehow earns the right to drive. A teenager that works hard to ear his car or his right to use yours will appreciate it better than one that has a car handed to him. In turn, these teen drivers will be more careful when driving, as they will know how hard it is to get a car.

California Law requires that every car has a minimum insurance coverage. This minimum insurance coverage basically aims at covering the people that the driver may damage or injure while he is driving.

The specific minimum requirements are $15,000 dollars per person in a single accident, $35,000 dollars per two or more people in a single accident, and $5,000 for property damages.

However, it’s strongly advised to get extra insurance if you live or plan to live in the Golden State. Here are some reasons for it.

• Unfortunately, not everyone is a responsible driver and there are quite a few people that go around without insurance, hoping they don’t get caught. If they happen to crash into your car, they won’t be able to pay for the damages. Taking them to court will take a long time. And remember, in case of an accident, you may have some much more urgent things to pay attention to, like getting someone to the hospital.
• Basic coverage may be a bit too small for your needs. While it’s enough for most accidents, in case of a bad accident, it may fall a bit short of what you need.
• Basic coverage doesn’t cover any legal expenses in case you need to defend yourself in court. This leaves you exposed in case someone decides to sue you. And to make matters worse, the legal suits don’t have to be realistic. People may sue you for fake or imaginary charges. In fact, they may very well sue you knowing that they have no grounds just to buy time or make their claims appear valid to their insurance companies. In any case, you’ll be forced to hire an attorney by the hour.
• Non-accident events aren’t covered by basic insurance. If are driving around, and someone comes with a gun and demands you to surrender your car, then you’ve lost it. Car theft, vandalism, and other types of similar damage to your car aren’t covered in basic insurance.

Lastly, extra coverage isn’t really much more expensive than basic insurance. And really, for just a few extra dollars a month, you’ll feel much better driving around knowing that you, your loved ones, and your car are protected.

This type of coverage is known as “basic California Auto Insurance coverage.” While the idea of such an insurance requirement is well intentioned indeed, it falls short of what the reality of driving in California demands.

Here’s how much basic coverage really covers:

• $15,000 per person in one accident.
• $30,000 for two or more people in one accident.
• $5,000 in damage property.

Here are the problems with this type of insurance.

First of all, it only covers other people. What about you? What if you broke an arm or ended up in the hospital, creating bills for very high amounts that are not covered. And let’s not forget other types of damage that you can get, such as lost salaries and distressed.

Now, imagine that the other driver sues you. It doesn’t matter if his claim is real, made up, or frivolous. In any case, you’ll have to defend yourself in court, and if you want to stand a chance, you’ll have to get a lawyer. As you know, lawyers don’t come cheap and their fees alone could eat up your savings in a very short amount of time.

And of course, there are situations that don’t involve a car accident but you need auto insurance anyway. The most common one is car theft, but there is also vandalizing. Imagine that you save for years to buy your dream car. You’re not going to want to lose all that money just because you parked on the street. Or you could just drive your car around very specific places where you know the risk of car theft is low, but then you wouldn’t have a very practical car, now would you?

Then, there is the sad reality that, despite the requirements of California’s Financial Responsibility Law, many people drive around uninsured or with an expired insurance policy. In case of an accident, they will not be able to cover for your loses. Sure, you can get them fined or locked up, but that won’t fix your car or get a new one if you lost your car completely.

That’s why a lot of people are willing to pay the extra money for better insurance. And in opinion, it’s worth it.

Nevertheless, in California, going around without a car insurance policy is not an option. The California Financial Responsibility Law requires you to have at least some basic insurance so that you can cover the damages you cause to third parties when you drive.

Knowing what factors affect the raise of auto insurance rates can help us avoid the raises somewhat. Here are some tips that can help you keep those insurance rates from going up.

• First of all, how hard it is to get your vehicle in California. In case your car is considered beyond repair, the harder it is to get a replacement, the higher your rates will be. This shouldn’t be a problem from most Californians, since they buy their cars locally, but it can be a problem for those who are into specialty cars.
• There is no point in issuing claims for minor repairs, unless you’re being sued. That’s why it’s important to be amicable and non-conflictive if you bump into someone else’s car. If possible, try to settle with the other driver without the intervention of your insurance companies. Minor repairs sometimes aren’t even worth the deductible fee and they will always raise your insurance rates (and the other driver’s as well, so you might want to tell him this).
• If you plan to let a teenager use your car, it’s better to add him from the beginning rather than risk having and accident and having your rates raised even more than they would have (or better yet, don’t let your teen drive).
• Do not leave lapses in coverage if you change from an insurance company to another. It will show as a coverage gap and it will reflect on you as a risky driver, raising your insurance fees. Always make sure that you let both companies know of your plans. Better yet, let both coverage plans overlap one day or week. It will be worth it.

Since it’s the minimum car insurance required by law, every single car insurance company in California knows about it and can sell it to you. Most people who own a car and live in California (as opposed to traveling or passing through California) usually get better coverage to protect themselves from other eventualities, especially car theft.

However, getting basic insurance is not the only way to comply with the Californian Financial Responsibility Law. The law has other provisions that allow you to prove your financial responsibility in some other manner.

One of them is through surety bonds, which are in fact, another type of insurance. A driver might opt to get a surety bond for $35,000 dollars.

The surety bond can only be obtained from a company that has been authorized to do so by the government of California. You can find a list of these companies in the website of the Department of Insurance: www.insurance.ca.gov.

How does the surety bond work? Well, the company that sells the surety bond (the surety) acts as a guarantee for the driver (the obligee) towards an aggravated party (the principal) in case of an accident. If the driver fails to repair the damage caused, the aggravated party can recover his or her losses from the money that the bond covers.

So, let’s say that John Smith goes to the supermarket and bumps into Mark Steven’s car and it is determined that John Smith is at fault. The drivers agree that it’s a small accident with no consequences other than some minor repairs. John Smith then has to pay out of his pocket the minor repairs.

However, if the damages are substantial and expensive, and John Smith finds himself in a position where he can’t cover them, Mark Steven can recuperate his losses through the security bond.

In reality, however, unless you’re in a very special circumstance, it’s much better to get a normal, commercial auto insurance policy that doesn’t tie up so much money, especially since by getting better coverage for a few extra dollars, you won’t have to deal with attorney fees if you get sued.

However, if you want to know more about what a no fault state is and what the difference with a fault state is, then read on.

One of the most important things to determine when there is a car accident is finding out who is at fault. This is not always easy. The laws that regulate traffic can change dramatically from state to state. Therefore, it is not rare that in the same situation, a driver would be at fault in one state and not at fault in another.

Also, car accidents happen very fast and sometimes the nature of the accident makes it difficult to find out who is at fault. And of course, there are some people who know they are at fault but claim they are not in order to avoid penalties.

Because of this, sometimes it takes a long time for insurance companies to find out who is at fault and how much. In some instances, both drivers might be at fault at 50% each, or at any other combination. And then there are those car accidents that involve more than two vehicles, which complicate things even further.

In very long investigations, drivers and their passengers might have to face expenses or emergencies by themselves. There are ambulances and hospital bills that need to be paid on the moment, not when some insurance employee wants to.

This has led to most states in the United States to adopt one or two policies to deal with this.

No Fault States: Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Utah.

In these states, a driver doesn’t have to wait for his insurance company to decide whether he’s at fault or not. He can immediately claim compensation for hospital and doctor bills. On the other had, he can’t ever claim compensation for non-body damages, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and inconvenience. Car damage is still handled on a per fault basis, since it’s not considered urgent or relevant to the well being of the drivers and their passengers.

Fault States: The rest of them.

In these states, you have to wait until the insurance companies agree on who is at fault and for how much. On the other hand, you can very well claim compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and inconvenience.

In California, the state law requires that every vehicle is insured under the Compulsory Financial Responsibility Law. This law is commonly known as the 15/30/5 or simply the 15/30. That’s because it requires a minimum coverage of $15,000 for the death or injury of one person in one accident, $30,000 for the death or injury of two or more people in one accident, and $5,000 for property damage. As you can imagine, the aim of the law is to make you financially responsible of damages and injuries you cause to others in case of an accident.

This basic coverage is the minimum that you need to have in order to drive. However, you might want to get more to cover your needs. For example, if you have a nice car, you’d definitely want to get theft coverage. If more than one person is driving, you may want to get coverage for your own damages. Also, if someone that you care about will drive the car, you’ll have to get some coverage for passengers that will pay for hospital bills.

With the California auto insurance business being so big, it can be hard to select a company. However, these tips will help you sort out the auto insurance businesses that will be the best for you.

• Decide in advance what you exactly need. If you know how much coverage you really need, then you’ll be less attracted by sudden offers and plans that insurance agents will try to sell you. For example, if you usually carry just another passenger, then it’s pointless to buy insurance that covers three or more passengers.
• Your first calls should be made only to gather information. No matter how tempting an offer is, just take note of it and move on. If, after comparing several options, you still think that one offer is the best one, it will still be there waiting for you.
• Take attention of the quality of the service. While it’s true that good service on the phone doesn’t necessarily reflect on the service in case of an accident, if they take too long to take your call or reply you rudely, it means that they probably don’t care much about their customers.
• And finally, use your friend, the Internet, to compare prices. It makes the whole thing easier and faster, and you won’t have to feel the pressure of an agent that will try to sell you something that you don’t need to get a commission. That way, you’ll get a better feeling of the auto insurance business in California.

As of this writing, the only states that don’t require the SR22 form are Delaware, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

Anyway, in California, the SR22 is a life saver if you got your license revoked because you were caught driving while intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol. With it, you stand a chance to get your license back.

• Contact your insurance company and ask if they offer SR22 auto insurance. Some of them do and some of them don’t, so it’s going to be the luck of the draw.
• If your insurance company doesn’t offer SR22 auto insurance in California, then you will have to contact an insurance broker that has a license for working with SR22.
• Find the licensed insurance broker through the National Association of Insurance commissioners. They will give you the information of the agents that work in your area. You can either call them or see their website: www.naic.org.
• Once you obtain your SR22 auto insurance, you will have to carry it with you while you drive for three years once you get your license back.
• As you can imagine, you’ll have to be very careful while you drive under a SR22 policy. No infractions or accidents or you will get your license revoked again and you’ll have to restart the three year period again.
• In addition to being responsible when driving, you will also have to be very responsible about your SR22 policy. You can’t cancel it, suspend it, or otherwise alter it during these three years. In addition, you have to be very vigilant on your payments, and you can’t miss any, not even by one single day. If your insurance company detects any missing payment or mishandling of the SR22, it is obligated by law to inform the Department of Motor Vehicles of California that you are out of regulation. In that case, you’ll start your three period from the beginning, even if you had only 1 day to go.

The SR22 insurance is quite bothersome and somewhat expensive. You’re better off not requiring it, so I’d advise the same thing that anyone else: if you drink, don’t drive.

If you have a job and have to drive an hour or two every day, then driving is not a fun or amusing activity. It’s pretty much traffic and having to hear honks and dealing with less than ethical drivers for a period of time that feels never-ending. The fact that we just came out of work and we are tired and stressed already doesn’t help either.

However, for teenagers, the story is different. Driving has a whole different meaning. It’s a synonym of freedom and access to the world. It also means being independent and being able to go everywhere, at anytime. And most of all, it means looking “cool” in front of friends and attractive members of the opposite sex.

That would be great if it included the responsibilities of having and driving a car as well. For some reason, paying for gas and car insurance is never part of this “looking cool” mentality than teenagers have. No, they assume it’s us, the parents, who have to pay for all these things.

Nevertheless, we somehow give up. We get them a car or let them drive ours. After all, they´re our children and we sometimes feel like pleasing them.

Of course, we have to assume the responsibility for the actions of our teens. That includes letting them drive only when we feel they are ready for it and have complied with all the California law requirements for driving minors, which are:

• Completing a driver education class.
• Get a provisional learner’s permit and not have an accident or a driving related problem for at least six months.
• Get professional driver training for at least six hours.
• Get driving practice for at least 50 hours while in the company of an adult that’s at least 25 years old and that has a valid Californian driver’s license.
• Get a provisional driver’s license issued in California.

Once these requirements are met, minors as young as 15 and a half years old can drive in the state of California.

However, the real evaluation isn’t in the laws or the tests and procedures, but in the good judgment of the parents. If you feel your child isn’t ready to drive, then he isn’t ready to drive, no matter what the law and tests indicate.

Finally, if you do decide to let your teen son or daughter drive, do yourself a favor and get an insurance policy that covers you beyond the requirements of the law and that applies to teen drivers. It’ll cost you more, but you’ll sleep much better.

In any case, part of the attractive of the game was the ability to steal any car, regardless of type. So, you got to have the experience of driving everything, from a bike, to a big school bus. In addition, the games really had a Californian feeling to it, complete with gangs of different types and appropriate landscapes, even though the games took place in fictional cities.

That is all very well when we are dealing with a video game. However, the problem is that in California, car theft is a sad reality. In fact, it´s the state that has the highest number of stolen cars in the whole country.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau keeps statistics of the places in the country that have the highest number of stolen cars. The number one place isn’t in California. That dishonor goes to Laredo, Texas. However, California still has 6 of the 10 places where car theft is the highest in the country, including places 2, 3, 4 and 5. If you live on any of these places, then getting car insurance that covers car theft is pretty much mandatory:

• Modesto, California.
• Bakersfield, California.
• Stockton, California.
• Fresno, California.
• San Francisco, California.
• Visalia, California.

If you continue down the list, you’ll see that out of the 20 places with the highest number of stolen cars in the country, 11 are located in California, effectively making it the state where car theft is the highest in the United States. Mmmm, maybe those guys at RockStar Games knew something about car theft statistics when they decided to give their Grand Theft Auto games a Californian feeling.

Of course, California law requires you to have insurance in case of an accident, but if you value your car, then it is worth getting more than the basic insurance that the Californian law requires. That way, you’ll not only be covered for damage and medical expenses (which is the whole point of the Californian car insurance law), but you’ll also feel protected in case you go inside a store and find that your car is missing when you go out.