Breaking Down Your Car Insurance Coverage
Are you shopping around for auto insurance and starting to get quotes? If so, you're likely feeling a bit confused trying to figure out if you are requesting the right amount of insurance. That's why it helps to break down the three major categories of auto insurance.
Coverage For You
It's important that you have coverage for yourself if you were to get into an auto accident. Start by looking at your bodily injury coverage, which is designed to pay for your medical bills if you are in an accident. The coverage levels are described as the maximum amount each person can receive, as well as the total amount per accident. You may see this described as $100,000/$300,000 coverage, which means each person in your car that is injured has up to $100,000 of medical coverage and up to $300,000 for medical coverage for everyone else.
You'll also want to consider uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. This will protect you if you're involved in a hit-and-run accident, the other driver doesn't have enough insurance coverage to pay for your damages, or they do not have insurance at all. Rather than having to go through the process of suing the other driver, you can use this coverage to go through your own insurance company to pay for damage to your vehicle and your medical bills.
Coverage For Others
Liability coverage is designed to pay for other people's medical bills if you were to cause an accident. It works similarly to how your personal injury coverage works, but for the other driver. This insurance only comes into play when you cause an accident, which is why it is typically required by most states since they want to ensure other drivers are protected if you cause an accident.
You'll also want to get property damage coverage, which pays for damage that you cause to other people's vehicles or personal property. You want to make sure you have enough to pay for another person's vehicle if you were to total it, or damage caused to property if you were to hit a building, fence, or other types of property damage.
Coverage For Your Vehicle
You also have the option of purchasing coverage for your vehicle in two situations. Comprehensive coverage will pay for damages caused to your vehicle when you are not driving. This often includes theft, vandalism, fires, storm damage, flooding, and things of that nature. Collision coverage will pay for damage to your vehicle when you hit something and you are at fault. This includes hitting another vehicle, a tree, or anything else that can cause damage.