"Good Driver" Defined
Thanks to the consumer-driven 1987 insurance bill, Prop 103, California law (Section 1861.025 of the California Insurance Code) requires insurance companies to offer a 20 percent discount off auto rates for drivers who meet the following criteria:
- Driver must be licensed for the past 3 years and generally have no more than one Dept. of Motor Vehicle "minor violation" (meaning basic speed, failure to stop, yield, following too close, etc.) during the prior 3 years. Major violations such as DUI, manslaughter will disqualify a driver for 7 years.
- No at-fault accidents. The California Code of Regulations require that that a driver be considered at-fault if he is determined to be at least 51% the cause of the accidnt and the accident resulted in bodily injury or death. In bodily injury accidents not resulting in death, the the damage must be at least $750.00 to be considered at-fault.
If a driver wants to have the at-fault ruling reviewed, one or the following must be submitted with adequate details of the loss to show why the driver should not be considered at-fault:
- Claims report regarding the loss
- Documentation from the driver's previous carrier regarding the loss
- Documentation from the other party's insurance compay regarding the loss
- A written statement from the the driver regarding the loss, and this statement will be made under penalty of perjury
Summary: basically, for the good driver discount you can have: one minor cite OR one at-fault no-injury accident (meaning you were at-fault but no one was injured--you could smash someone's car or house and still qualify as a "good driver" as long as no person was hurt).