Auto insurance is a necessity for every person who owns a vehicle. The auto insurance policy has two parts. The first part is the liability coverage. This part is the coverage that covers the other driver if you are in an at fault accident. All states require this coverage before issuing tags. All states require this coverage but they don’t all have the same minimum limits. You can purchase your states minimum limit or you can increase them. I think that most people who own anything of great value such as a home, should increase the liability limits to at least $100,000 bodily injury per person, 300,000 bodily injury per accident and 100,000 property damage, with the same limits for the uninsured motorist. Having limits at these limits will protect you if you are in an at fault accident and are sued. If your assets are greater than the 100,000 you can increase the limits up to 1,000,000. The liability coverage part also includes the uninsured motorist coverage. This coverage is what will cover you, the insured if someone unknown should hit you and leave the scene or someone without insurance should hit you. Some states don’t require the uninsured motorist coverage but I recommend that you have it. You can also purchase medical payments on the policy. This is coverage for you or anyone in your vehicle should you be injured in an accident. You aren’t required to have this coverage. Some personal insurances won’t pay if this coverage pays.
The second part of the insurance policy is the physical damage coverage. This includes comprehensive, collision, towing and rental reimbursement coverage. The comprehensive coverage covers glass breakage, theft, colliding with an animal, hail, etc. This basically covers any loss that you aren’t responsible for. It doesn’t cover theft of personal items from your vehicle. You can choose the deductible you want to pay before the insurance pays. The higher the deductible the lower the premium. The collision covers the damage to your vehicle if you are in an accident where you are at fault. This can include a collision with another vehicle, a bank, or tree etc. You can also choose the deductible on this coverage. Next is the towing coverage sometimes called road service. this covers a tow bill or a road service call to your vehicle, such as unlocking doors when keys are left in vehicle or fixing a flat tire. Basically any thing that is done on the road side. Last is the Rental reimbursement coverage. This covers the cost of a rental car if you need one after an at fault accident or a comp claim.
The auto insurance policy can be confusing but if you ask your agent for an explanation, they will be happy to give you one.