Title: 
New Law Threatens Big Fines For Calif. Drivers

Word Count:
359

Summary:
If you don't have auto insurance in California, you'd better hurry up and get some.

Starting October 1st, drivers in California have an additional reason to maintain their car insurance policies. The California DMV now has access to driver’s individual data showing whether motorists have let their policies lapse.

In the light of the new law, people are looking to find faster ways to get car insurance in a hurry to avoid the laws and penalties, especially through online ...


Keywords:
car insurance quote


Article Body:
If you don't have auto insurance in California, you'd better hurry up and get some.

Starting October 1st, drivers in California have an additional reason to maintain their car insurance policies. The California DMV now has access to driver’s individual data showing whether motorists have let their policies lapse.

In the light of the new law, people are looking to find faster ways to get car insurance in a hurry to avoid the laws and penalties, especially through online sites.

Senator Jackie Spear, who wrote the bill, which goes into effect, says although California’s drivers laws already requires motorists to carry proof of insurance with them at all times when they drive, many motorists on the road still don’t.

"People found a clever way around it. They would get insurance when they had to register their vehicle and a month later they would cancel it,” Spears remarked.

The newly enacted bill now requires insurance companies in California to electronically report to the DMV who is buying liability insurance and who is canceling it. State and local law agencies will now have access to that insurance information during traffic stops, and will write up non-compliant drivers without a policy. Violators who do not have insurance at the time they are pulled over will face stiff fines.

"They will be slapped with a $250 fee that, with enhancements, is almost $700. Plus you're going to have to get auto insurance, so it's a sting of about $1000," Spear remarked during an interview with KCBS–TV in San Francisco.

The fear of these new fines, along with the rising costs of living, and the need to find ways to streamline personal expenses, are sending people online to find insurance due to its lower policy rates and overall convenience.

Insurance-Info-Center.com, a national online insurance quote site, offers free, no-obligation auto insurance quotes that, on average, lowers the standard rates of a typical user by an average of $451 a year.

Senator Spear was also the writer of a 1996 bill that requires proof of liability insurance. She stated that since it's passed, the number of uninsured drivers in accidents has been reduced by 50 percent.