CFC Bolsters Low Cost Auto Insurance Program

The Consumer Federation of California is collaborating with the California Department of Insurance to publicize the Low Cost Auto Insurance Program (LCA), which is designed to provide low-income, good drivers with an affordable insurance option. Currently in California, to be eligible for the low cost auto insurance program, the household earnings must be 250% or less of the federal poverty level.

For example, a family of four living in Alameda County earning less than $50,000 can get a minimum liability policy for only $322 a year. The same minimum liability policy would be available for a single individual earning $23,500 or less each year.

Click here to visit the CLCA website

California law requires that all drivers be insured. However, too many low-income and working-poor drivers remain uninsured because the costs of standard insurance premiums are beyond their financial reach. There are more than three million uninsured drivers on the road in California every day. But the good news is LCA is working! We now know that 85% of new LCA policies are previously uninsured drivers, so the program is helping precisely those it was intended to.

CFC has been working with over 50 community-based organizations and service providers across northern California - getting information about the program out to those that need it most. CFC is focusing on the nine counties in northern California (Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Stanislaus) while the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is focusing on eight counties in the southern part of the state (Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego). To date, CFC is responsible for the distribution of over 40,000 brochures in English, Spanish, and Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Tagalog, Russian, and Korean. Our goal is to help enroll at least 50,000 eligible drivers within the next year.