Does Inexpensive Car Insurance Equal Low Liability limits?
Before you try to decide what the right amount of coverage should be. You first need to understand what Automobile Liability Insurance covers. There are always two factors that make up liability coverage. There is bodily injury and property damage liability.
Bodily injury liability covers just that, injuries that are caused do to an auto accident:
1. Initial aid
2. Doctor bills due to the accident
3. Restitution for lost salary
4. Death benefits
5. Lawyer Fees
Property damage liability makes the damage that is cause due to an automobile accident.
1. Structural damage to homes, storefronts, etc.
2. Money to fix or replace other non-moving objects
3. Car restoration or replacement expenses
So now the question is what limits of coverage do I need? Each state has there own minimum guidelines. Usually around $15,000/$30,000 $15,000 but that will vary by state. When you look at the coverage’s I just wrote down you might be thinking there are three numbers there not two I don’t understand. Bodily injury liability coverage comes in two forms either split limit coverage which is shown above or single limit coverage.
Single vs split limit: In example above of 15,000/30,000/15,000 in coverage, this first 15,000 would cover individual injuries to others obtained from the accident you caused up to 15,000 per person. The 30,000 represents the maximum pay out for injuries caused to the while accident. If you had a single limit of bodily injury coverage it would be equal to 30,000 for the extra accident broken up as needed.
The number that always ends your liability coverage is your property damage limit in the above example it is represented by $15,000.
By this point you could probably sue how state limits that are usually 15,000/30,000/15,000 might not be adequate coverage. With medical cost and the price of automobiles and property rising you might want to consider higher limits.
The most common amount of coverage around the country is split limit of 100,000/300,000/50,000 but you might want to consider even higher limits. The cost to raise liability from 15,000/30,000/15,000 to 100,000/300,000/100,000 or even higher shouldn’t cost more than a couple of hundreds of dollars per year. I’ll personally spend a little more now to save thousands later just in case I was sued for expenses costing more than my coverage limits.
Related Stuff:
Sweat the Small Stuff: A Comprehensive Approach to Improving Your Independent Insurance AgencyA Comprehensive Approach to Improving Your Independent Insurance Agency.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Car Insurance Agency. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.