Auto Insurance

Given the discussions about police and tickets, a couple of interesting articles from today's INFORMADOR:

Confirmation of allegations about the lack of insurance on many vehicles:
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&ei=g5fhUJOmKcqlrQHNvYHIBw&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dinformador%26hl%3Den%26tbo%3Dd%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D593&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=es&twu=1&u=http://www.informador.com.mx/primera/2012/427355/6/con-seguro-solo-26-de-autos.htm&usg=ALkJrhjGawJnEIZZG3Jf6g1L7AFq9xqLKQ
26% of vehicles actually have insurance - not a positive picture!

The importance of waiting for an insurance adjuster with some recommended proceedures:
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&ei=g5fhUJOmKcqlrQHNvYHIBw&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dinformador%26hl%3Den%26tbo%3Dd%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D593&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=es&twu=1&u=http://www.informador.com.mx/jalisco/2012/427343/6/la-clave-esperar-al-ajustador-de-seguros.htm&usg=ALkJrhi4iL5bk_uoJ5i_8XeJTMb4O4UFRA
Not the greatest of translations but reading between the lines does provide some decent recommendations.

CheenaGringo wrote:Given the discussions about police and tickets, a couple of interesting articles from today's INFORMADOR:

Confirmation of allegations about the lack of insurance on many vehicles:
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&ei=g5fhUJOmKcqlrQHNvYHIBw&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dinformador%26hl%3Den%26tbo%3Dd%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D593&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=es&twu=1&u=http://www.informador.com.mx/primera/2012/427355/6/con-seguro-solo-26-de-autos.htm&usg=ALkJrhjGawJnEIZZG3Jf6g1L7AFq9xqLKQ
26% of vehicles actually have insurance - not a positive picture!

The importance of waiting for an insurance adjuster with some recommended proceedures:
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&ei=g5fhUJOmKcqlrQHNvYHIBw&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dinformador%26hl%3Den%26tbo%3Dd%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D593&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=es&twu=1&u=http://www.informador.com.mx/jalisco/2012/427343/6/la-clave-esperar-al-ajustador-de-seguros.htm&usg=ALkJrhi4iL5bk_uoJ5i_8XeJTMb4O4UFRA
Not the greatest of translations but reading between the lines does provide some decent recommendations.

Very interesting. I guess those who don't carry insurance don't seem to worry about the consequences.

I think anyone driving without insurance and being the cause of an accident needs some jail time to make an example for those who don't carry insurance. It will soon make people responsible.

John:

If you were to read the local (Guadalajara) news re: traffic accidents, you would see that more often than not, involved drivers leave the accident scene as fast as possible. Even when their vehicles are totally disabled, they take off on foot or beg a ride from another driver. With an uninsured rate of 74%, leaving the scene is a better option than going straight to jail.

Neil, A local insurance agent told me, one of the reasons Mexican plated vehicle auto insurance is higher than Foriegn plated is the high number of uninsured vehicles here.

Jim:

That would seem to make sense to me. I know when we first moved to NM, uninsured drivers were a real problem. Our governor at the time recognized the problem and made a huge push to lower the percentage of uninsured. Our rates have dropped dramatically over the last 6 years.

Actually, Joec, uninsured drivers are almost certain to go to jail if they have an accident whether their fault or not. That´s the reason most drivers, whether they have insurance or not, try to negotiate a settlement with the other parties involved or run for the hills. I´ve been involved in a couple of minor fender-benders over the years here and have found that nobody, whether guilty or not, wants to call the cops unless the accident is quite serious. Drivers in Mexico always seem to be willing to hastily negotiate a curbside settlement so hostility is not a good negotiating tactic if one is involved in a minor, non-injury accident. Don´t waste time fretting about whether or not the other party involved is insured, just negotiate what you can FOR CASH if the damage is minor and get the hell out of there - your fault or not. If you need to claim damages from your insurance company, however, wait for their adjustor to show up or forget any claim you may otherwise have had. Wait for that adjustor even if the other party leaves the scene.

The most critical clauses to have in your automobile insurance policy are Legal Aid and adequate Liability coverage ( Responsabilidad Civil Y Servicios Asistencia Defensa Legal Vehicular) . That´s how you keep out of the hoosegaw.

I remember one terrible incident of a few years ago when a man and his wife and some guests they had just picked up at GDL were on their way home at night when a tractor trailer clipped them and caused the man to lose control of his car. His wife was killed and guests badly hurt in the ensuing accident which was altogether the truck driver´s fault. The truck driver fled the scene and was not apprehended that night at least. Because this man had no "Legal Aid" insurance coverage he was thrown into jail for days while his wife´s body remained in the morgue. Had he had legal aid his insurance company would have come to his aid and the policy would have demonstrated financial responsibility so he would not have been jailed at all.

Mexico is what it is and that´s where we are. I don´t know if insurance rates are more here than in the U.S. but they probably are since, as stated above there are so many uninsured motorists out there but also because auto theft is epidemic and there is a lot of insurance fraud emanating from many quarters.

Whatever you do, never even drive you car out of your locked garage even just to drive one block without good insurance coverage.

hound dog - I think anyone is a moron who does not have enough insurance on their car to protect themselves and others. I always was insured to the max in the US especially owning a house.

The problem here in Mexico, is you cannot insure like you can in the US to those limits.

[quote="joec"]hound dog - I think anyone is a moron who does not have enough insurance on their car to protect themselves and others. I always was insured to the max in the US especially owning a house.

The problem here in Mexico, is you cannot insure like you can in the US to those limits.[/quote]

I could not agree more, Joec. One can skimp on many things here but auto insurance is not one of them. You´re right, need not fear only fear jail or even prision time but the loss of one´s assets in Mexico. The people who are driving around Mexico uninsured are either people with no assets or no brains or both. We must be insured to protect ourselves from the "morons".

Dawg:

I fully agree with your warnings on auto insurance in Mexico. When we were driving down, I always purchased the best coverage available. However, now that we are flying and renting cars, it is a much different story. Mexican auto rental franchises are well known for adding on outrageous insurance fees for coverage that one has difficulty even figuring out what the coverage is. For that reason, we carry AMEX Premium Rental Car Insurance at a reasonable cost with policy limits that we can not only understand but also exceeds anything offered by rental car companies. Prior to our trip last August, I jumped through all sorts of hoops to find a company (Payless) willing to accept our AMEX policy. Now I am going through the process once again since the Payless franchise seems to have disappeared.