The amount of insurance you will need will always be determined to late, once you have an accident. To try to understand how to protect yourself, you first need to know what your liability insurance will cover. It is always broken up in two parts bodily injury and property damage liability.
Bodily Injury liability includes the injury that are suffered due to on automobile accidents.
1. Initial aid
2. Medical bills due to injuries
3. Compensation for loss of income
4. Death benefits
5. Legal defense fees and/or bail bonds for anyone listed on your policy
Property Damage Liability covers the damage that is sustained in an 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.
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.
I would suggest never having coverage less than $100,000/$300,000 for bodily injury and $50,000 property damage with even higher coverage recommended. The cost to go from $15,000/$30,000 to $100,000/$300,000 or even higher shouldn't be more than a couple of hundred dollars a year at most. I would rather spend a couple hundred dollars more per year than be stuck owing thousand due to medical bills for a person that I injured in an accident. When talking with your insurance agent always get quotes with higher liability limits so you can compare the different prices between coverage. If you need to off set cost a little and you are getting full coverage consider having a higher collision deductible, but insurance cost savings is another topic to be written about later.
Bodily Injury liability includes the injury that are suffered due to on automobile accidents.
1. Initial aid
2. Medical bills due to injuries
3. Compensation for loss of income
4. Death benefits
5. Legal defense fees and/or bail bonds for anyone listed on your policy
Property Damage Liability covers the damage that is sustained in an 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.
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.
I would suggest never having coverage less than $100,000/$300,000 for bodily injury and $50,000 property damage with even higher coverage recommended. The cost to go from $15,000/$30,000 to $100,000/$300,000 or even higher shouldn't be more than a couple of hundred dollars a year at most. I would rather spend a couple hundred dollars more per year than be stuck owing thousand due to medical bills for a person that I injured in an accident. When talking with your insurance agent always get quotes with higher liability limits so you can compare the different prices between coverage. If you need to off set cost a little and you are getting full coverage consider having a higher collision deductible, but insurance cost savings is another topic to be written about later.
About the Author:
The preceding article was written by licensed insurance agent Joe Welusz who provides Free Insurance Quotes. He writes intriguing articles on various insurance topics for QuoteMatcher.com. Prior to getting Insurance Quotes on the web check Joe's site for free money saving insurance ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment