Everyone who drives a car in Texas is required, by law, to have liability insurance. Despite this fact, there are still many people who don’t understand all the different coverage that is offered on the insurance quotes they receive from their local agent, or the big insurance companies. Over the next few months, we’ll be taking a look at those coverages, so that you can understand how your insurance works, and make informed decisions when you decide to purchase an auto insurance policy.
We’ll start by looking at liability. Auto liability comes in three areas: Bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident, and property damage. These three are the only coverages that are required by law, and they are easily the most important coverage you carry on your car. Still, often customers call our Mckinney office to discuss the free quote we have given them, and don’t understand how these coverages work. So let’s break it down.
Bodily injury per person – This coverage protects you in an instance where you are in an at fault accident and injure one person. The limit here is the max that will be paid out to any single person who is injured.
Bodily injury per occurrence – This coverage protects you in an instance where you are in an at fault accident, and you injure multiple people. The limit here is the max that will be paid out at all in a single accident – this limit includes the per person limit.
Property damage – Pretty cut and dry, property damage coverage provides you with protection for any damage you caused to the property (I.e. the other car) when you are in an at fault accident.
An example: John is a driver with
auto insurance in Plano. His limits are 30/60/25, which is the lowest Texas auto insurance can be due to state law. John is driving in Frisco, and he hits a car because he falls asleep driving. The car has two people in it, a man and a woman, both are injured and the car is totaled. Their medical bills come back. The man’s bill comes back at 50,000. The woman’s comes back at 10,000. The car damage is valued at 20,000. In this scenario John’s insurance would cover 30,000 of the man’s bill, as 30 is the limit for each person. John would have to pay the remaining 20,000 out of pocket. John’s insurance will cover all of the woman’s damage, as she fits into the 30,000 per person limit as well as the 60,000 per occurrence limit. The car will also be fully covered by John’s insurance policy, as it fits in the 25,000 limit.
Hopefully this gives an idea of how auto liability works. We hope it also shows why it is important to have high liability limits on your car – after all if John had 50/100/50 on his car, he wouldn’t have to pay any money out of pocket. Many consumers are looking for cheap auto insurance, and affordable auto insurance – however in doing so they often times lose out on the important coverages.
If you’re looking for more information you can find us on
Facebook, or email us at
contact@minsuranceagent.com. If you’re ready for a free insurance quote, you can submit your information on our home page, or call us at
214-733-8400.
