Do you need California auto insurance? Well here are the requirements plain and simple.
The State of California has a law that requires auto insurance for every driver and owner of a motor vehicle registered in California to have auto insurance or be covered in some way.
For property damage California requires least $ 5,000 dollars for one accident. And for injury insurance California requires coverage of $15,000 for any 1 person and $30,000 for all people l people involved. For injury in my opinion this is a rather low minimum, as law suits are rather high.
Here is another interesting fact. You actually do not need auto insurance in California, technically. You can keep a cash deposit with the DMV of California or obtain a surety bond, for the amount of $35,000. This seems a little ridiculous to me.
If you are not insurance there are major penalties that you can face.
If you are looking for an Auto insurance quote in California, it will be easy as the state is so large and competitive that you can find some cheap car insurance if you are a Californian.

If your taking an adventure, let’s say to Mexico, do you need to buy auto insurance on your car? The answer is technically no, but it is according to your peace of mind, that is if you do not get into an car accident in Mexico involving and the Police get involved.
It is recommended to buy Mexican car insurance, even for day visits, when driving in Mexico. Most USA insurance plans do not cover driving in Mexico.

Why do you need Mexican auto insurance?

You are require to have Insurance from a Mexican company by Mexican law if you have an accident, even if you are not at fault. This is the biggest reason to get Mexican auto insurance on your trip to Mexico
In  Mexican law drivers need “proof of financial responsibility” in the event of an accident. As an American with a car in Mexico, you either need a lot of cash or a Mexican car insurance company.
Will my U.S. or Canadian insurance cover me in Mexico?
US and Canadian car insurance companies are not “proof of financial responsibility” under Mexican law. However, there are some  U.S. insurance companies that cover damages to your car, for say 20 mile penetration into Mexico,  the other guys car is not covered by your US auto insurance company. And this is the reason why  U.S. car insurance has to have a liability-only auto insurance from a Mexican car insurance company.

What to do about auto insurance in Mexico?

I would call my current insurance company and determine if it has this policy in affect. I think many southern California companies might. However, if not there are many per diem companies with good reputations that will give you peace of mind.

Toyota Prius is the least expensive car to drive. This was the conclusion of a AAA study. “The sticker price is truly the tip of the iceberg,” said a AAA spokeswoman. You have to consider repairs, insurance, gas and total fuel efficiency and a whole list of other factors.

The Toyota Prius has a low 17.9% of the five-year costs going to fuel. That means less the 20% of the cost of maintaining and keeping this car on the road is fuel costs. That is truly amazing.  The only downside is the Toyota Prius depreciates faster than average, if you consider resale-book value.  I am not sure why this is.  But if you drive it to the end of its life, I do not see why this should be a factor and perhaps this noted faster depreciation is an aberration.

I think the cost and expense to drive this car is low because it is a hybrid, and being a hydrid makes a big difference. Fuel cost are the biggest slice of the pie when considering total cost or the least expensive car to dive over the long term, such as 5 years. Toyota Prius’ fuel efficiency is important because fuel cost are a very disproportionate factor in determining the total net future value of expenses and ultimately the ranking the least expensive car to drive.

Here are the facts:

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the 2008 Prius is the most fuel efficient car sold in the U.S.

In fact, real world driving, not lab theoretical driving, you will get 44 mile per gallon  with the Toyta Prius. This is acording to Consumer Reports. So both the US EPA and consumer reports back up the Prius in terms of fuel effieciency.  The cost for a Totota Prius? About 22k USD, which makes it, a good value and over all the least expensive car to drive.

Myself I do not own a car right now, I am ex pat in Krakow with no need today for a car. However, I think if I were to buy a new one it would be a Toyta Prius. I had a Toyta Camry and it drove it for 11 years with little problems. That was my personal experience, and with AAA, US EPA and Consumer reports giving giving the Prius a vote of confidence regarding the least expensive car to dive, I think the Toyota Prius would be my next purchase.

Have you heard of the company names of Citizens Insurance, Meridian Insurance and Nationwide Mutual Insurance? Well here is the problem, a man in Grand Rapids was selling computer generated auto insurance policies for a $40 dollars a policy. He knew something about I would imagine photoshop and scanning and created an auto insurance scam that milked about 500 people out of $40 dollars. First, I think the guy must be an idiot, he sold the insurance too low and this tipped people off as people started talking about this as a shady deal. Second, he sold this in his own back yard, and therefore, the community talked. Third besides moral reasons for not doing this, auto insurance scams can land you in jail for quite a while.

He put up fliers around his house to sell the scammy auto insurance. I imagine he was desperate for cash. What I do not understand is why such a talented man, talented enough to fool 500 people would not use his skills in a productive legal way instead of scamming people out of $40.

All things considered though his scam auto insurance documents looked quite real.

100k is not a lot of money. When I used to be a broker people with over 100k spread their money around in different banks and I always wondered why. I just assumed these large known banks were safe. I was naive. IndyMac had 1 billion of uninsured deposits. If I ever had 100k in the bank I would use a brokerage firm that has private as well as FDIC insurance. Usually there are 25 and 50 million dollar options for private insurance. Which is more reasonable to me in 2008. And if you have more than that you need to diversify. I would diversify anyway.

The effect of having so much uninsured money at failing banks will create a ripple effect though the local economy. As when one person can not pay another person will not be able to. I am very curious to see how this whole banking crisis will play out in the USA, is it the end or the beginning. At this juncture of its development I think it is a big question mark.

There is no such thing as a category 6 storm, at least what anyone has seen. What a category 6 storm is, is a storm that comes only once every 500 years. This is for insurance actuarial purposes, but in theory could happen. Insurance companies need to have reserves that could pay for 1 category 6 storm. Here I am talking about P&C or property and casualty insurance companies. These storms are hypothetical storms. However, to actuaries they are real, they are a mathematical calculation. It seems that storms are getting bigger and more dangerous, perhaps because of global warming. I have yet to see a real category 6 storm, the big one. One that could wipe out an entire state for example and I hope I do not. Category 5 storms come once every 3 years on average.

Reinsurance is insurance for insurance companies. Insurance is all about spreading risk, diversification. Insurance companies buy insurance to cover themselves against huge losses. This is particularly applicable for P&C or property and casualty insurance companies that have potential exposure to large storms.

Besides risk transfer another reason why insurance companies use reinsurance is income smoothing. That is they can create more predictable income streams as reinsurance will reduce large losses.

Basically insurance companies must choose reinsurance companies carefully as they transfer insurance risk for credit risk

There is not way you can judge a companies future value by the trading by the insiders. The value of the company is based on the numbers and the business. Insiders trade stock for various reasons. Often connected to personal situations or company politics. When people point to White mountains chief Ray Barrette buying 800,000 dollars of the stock, approximately. You can also look at the Chief of investments John Gillespie selling 1.5 million dollars, approximately. Insiders have millions and move stock and trade stock for reasons unknown to outsiders. WTM has a P/E of 17.6. In my opinion for a financial company this is high, further its been in a strong downward trend. These are more important determinate factors in a stocks future than who buys what. Look at how close actual earnings comes to projected earnings and future P/E, earnings momentum etc not insider trades. Also look if there are better companies to buy now. Although WTM might come back from its 200 point fall from 600 to 400, I will wait for more evidence than insider trading at White Mountain Insurance | WTM before I personally buy.

Liberty Mutual is opening an office in China. Liberty will focus on personal lines and small to mid-size businesses. This will include Auto. Over all its only one office in Beijing but strategically a very good move for Liberty mutual insurance. I think if you just run the number about how many people have become middle class in China and their buying power, the potential for profits is huge. Insurance is a well calculated gamble and insurance companies always win. The main thing that held Liberty from having a branch in China before was the regulatory agency; however, Liberty mutual received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission and this is a start. I have seen Liberty Mutual make large gains in Poland. I think Liberty is generally a strategically very forward looking company.

White Mountain Advisors like all insurance companies invest in fixed income securities to safeguard their investment assets which are the assets of their policyholders of White Mountain Insurance group’s subs.

The question is how much trouble is David Linker the Asset/mortgage back security expert at White mountains advisors in? I do not know. Until I get the facts I would say no. They are not in trouble. But I would say I want to see their investment returns.  What I do know is White Mountain Advisors invested a lot of money and trust and David Linker’s affection for Mortgage backed securities. White mountain advisors had in my opinion a heavy investment in these securities. For White mountain insurance, certainly they yield more than safer more traditional fixed income investments, I really am curious to peak at the loss or gains connected with WTM investment portfolio, which was over 11 billion in assets. If they did take a big hit this year, I am curious about what affect it would have on their parent company. White mountain Insurance.