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 injuries do to a car accident.

1. First Aid at the Accident

2. Doctor bills due to the accident

3. Money for lost wages

4. Final expenses

5. Lawyer Fees

Property Damage Liability covers the damage that is sustained in an accident:

1. Structural damage to homes, storefronts, etc.

2. Repair or replacement costs for other stationary objects

3. Car restoration or replacement expenses

So, what coverage limit are right for you? Every state compiles there minimum guidelines individually. 15,000/30,000/15,000 is the minimal norm but that may vary from state to state so check your state guidelines. You might have noticed that there are three coverage figures and not two. This is because bodily injury liability usually comes in a split limit unless you request a single limit of coverage.

Split Limits: Then if you decided to have split limit coverage the 15,000 from the paragraph above misrepresenting individual coverage for injuries incurred during an accident. While the 30,000 is the total for injuries that incurred for the entire accident with a separate 15,000 for property damages. If you had chosen a single limit of coverage there is only one limit to be divided however need up to the maximum chosen for bodily injury.

The last number in your liability coverage is always your property damage limit in the above cast is was also $15,000.

What is right amount of liability coverage? The most common amount of coverage is a split limit of $100,000/$300,000 bodily injury with a property damage coverage equal to $50,000. People that take out lower limit are really exposing themselves to financial disaster if they can’t afford to pay the difference when an accident occurs. For example, say you have $15,000/$30,000 bodily injury coverage and $15,000 property damage coverage. You get into an accident that is your fault with two vehicles a five year Honda Accord and two year old Chrysler 300. There are three people in the Honda and one person in the Chrysler. All have minor injury but are brought to the hospital and the person driving the Chrysler stays overnight for observation. Their bills will run over your $30,000 maximum for Bodily injury and the person driving the Chrysler will have individual hospital cost of more than $15,000. What does that mean? Once your coverage is used up you will be responsible for the rest. With hospital cost as expensive as they are that could mean a very costly bill to you. This doesn’t even take into account the amount of property damage that needs to be paid out. Since you hit two cars the damage for both comes out at $19,000. That is another $4,000 out of your pocket. The worst part of the whole thing was you thought you had full coverage and that it didn’t matter what happened. Full coverage only means that you have liability coverage, comprehensive and collision coverage but your limits on liability are the most important. Make sure they are set properly.

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.