Sometime around your 16th year of responsibility collecting you become capable/legally allowed to operate an automobile. Even though most of us probably felt like old men and women at this point, wise beyond our years, this is huge responsibility promotion. One that is probably not fully realized by young adults drunk on freedom. It’s possible that some of us still take for granted the daily use of cars and forget what is ultimately at stake each time we get behind the wheel.
Liability coverage is essentially broken down into five parts:
Bodily Injury
This is going to cover the harm you can do to your passengers and other drivers while operating your car. The physical harm you can do to someone while driving a car is the biggest risk you are protecting yourself from. If your bodily injury limits are not adequate you could find yourself paying a large sum of money if you were to ever injure someone with your car.
Property Damage
So you and your friends are out for a night on the town when you swerve to miss a squirrel crossing the street. You temporarily lose control of your car and end up parking it in someone’s living room. The property damage limit on your auto policy will cover the cost of turning your newly created sun room back into a living room. This coverage also applies to any physical structure you might hit with your car, be it a house, boat, another car, building or telephone pole.
Medical Payments
Make sure you look out for number one. If you are ever involved in an accident, in which you are at fault, and you injure yourself, medical payments coverage is going to take care of the bills, upto the policy limits.
Uninsured Motorist
So you are cruising through an intersection on your way to a Poison and Def Leppard concert. All of a sudden your car is clipped from behind by someone driving a 1980 Ford Pinto who runs a red light distracted by the phone conversation they are having with their loan shark. You lose control of the car and slam into a nearby guard rail. Your new best friend, who is already in debt $50,000 because of a gambling addiction, hasn’t paid a car insurance premium since Cheers was on TV. He keeps driving as if nothing happened. Who is going to pay for your hospital bills? Having adequate uninsured motorist coverage will take of the damage for you.
Underinsured Motorist
Not to be confused with uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage takes care of you if you are involved in an accident with someone who has coverage, but decided that the words state minimum were a good idea. Your underinsured motorist coverage will cover the excess, up to your policy limits, of the at fault drivers coverage.
Now that you know more about liability coverage on your car insurance do you think you have enough coverage?