how much auto insurance do you really need?

Depends on your assets, future assets and what state you are in. In California and Utah, the courts are now allowed to award the following: everything but $20,000 in equity in your home, savings and any other liquid assets, AND up to 1/3 of your wages for up to 10 YEARS. You should discuss this with your insurance agent, if you have one.

What most people don't know is that once your insurance company has fulfilled their oligation in the accident, they are no longer required to provide you with legal council. They will only fight for what they have interest in. So, on top of what your insurance isn't covering, there may also be legal fees that go with the court case.

Here is a quick breakdown of what coverages mean to you, and then you should decided what is needed for your situation.

BIPD (bodily injury property damage) this may be split into two lines on your declarations page. BODILY INJURY is usually written with one amount per person, and one amount per incident. (25/50 or 25,000/50,000) The first amount is the maximum that the insurance would pay out for one single person that you injured. The second amount is the full amount that the insurance would pay out per accident for others. So if you were driving along and hit a car that had Johnny, Mikey, and Sue in it and Johnny had 30,000 in medical bills, Mikey had 25,000 in medical bills and Sue had 15,000; then the insurance would pay out Johnny $25,000 (your responsible for the remaining $5,000) Mikey's bill would be paid and then you could be responsible for Sue's bill.

PROPERTY DAMAGE- This is how much the insurance company pays out for the other person's vehicle. Take a look around town, see how many cars you think are more expensive than $ 15,000 (or whatever your property damage limit is). This also takes care of any actual property (buildings, signs, that stuff)

PIP- personal injury protection/no-fault medical- this is a requirement in some states. In most accidents, this has to be exhausted before your personal medical insurance will pay out. This pays for your vehicle's passenger's medical regardless who is at fault. Even if you have Health insurance, you aren't always going to verify that your passengers have it.

UM-UNINSURED MOTORIST- this is to cover your medical (and any of your passengers) if the idiot that hit you didn't have insurance. I recommend it to anyone who is any bit concerned with their limits of liability because the same thing applies here. If you had your friend in the car, and you are hit by someone that doesn't have enough to cover her medical, then she can come after you too.

UIM-UNDERINSURED MOTORIST- this is if you take the situation in BI and you are now Sue. This would take care of your medical up to whatever you have on your policy. This coverage is beneficial, because the insurance company will go after the other person to recover the money that they paid out on your behalf.

UMPD-UNINSURED MOTORIST PROPERTY DAMAGE- this allows you to get some money for your vehicle in the case of a PROVEN uninsured driver, not an unknown driver (hit and run or parked car) Not needed if you have Comprehensive and collision.

COMPREHENSIVE- otherwise known as "other than collision". This is an amount you pay to get your vehicle fixed if you hit an animal or if damage is done to your vehicle while legally parked,and the damage is not by another vehicle.

COLLISION- This is an amount you pay to fix your vehicle when your at fault in an accident, or when the other party doesn't have insurance.

RENTAL CAR- I recommend this if you have one car in the household, or if you are unable to do without a car while it is in the shop. You may choose to put money away in a savings account instead of choosing this coverage.

There are other coverages that you can add on, but they vary so much by company to company, that you should discuss them with your agent.

FULL COVERAGE- this doesn't mean that you are fully covered for an accident no matter what. This simply means that you have coverage for your own vehicle to be fixed, and for the other parties to get SOME compensation. How much depends on your liability limits.

Hope that helps! Buttrfly (Insurance CSR for 5 years)

You need enough insurance to cover your assets and you.

Most health insurance plans will not provide coverage to auto accident victims, so MedPay/PIP should be on your policy, preferably at the highest limit possible.

Liability insurance should at minimum, be enough to protect your assets (house, cash/stocks/investments, paycheck). If your assets are many, over $500K, then purchase a PUP (umbrella) policy as well.

Your deductible should be the amount YOU are able to pay out of pocket to repair your car before the insurnce company does, same with comprehensive. The higher the deductible, the lower the premium.

The cost of NOT having enough auto insurance can be devastating. Think what would happen if you accidentally killed or seriously injured someone, or you had a crash where you were injured but the other driver wasn't insured?

Here's some good advice on this website. Take heed!

Hope this helps.

Everyone should get at least 100/300/100 BI/PD and should add medical to the policy since many health policies have high deductibles or disallow claims from auto accidents altogether. You may want to try a website that compares multiple companies at once to get you the best price. I am paying less than ½ after I did.

Go to: http://www.insureme.com/landing.aspx?Refby=616165&...

Take care,

Casey

With the number of really bad (and sometimes UN-insured) drivers out there, I want as much as I can afford. In some "no-fault" states, all you need is liability and PIP, but I like having all the extra stuff just in case.

I recommend one to try this site where you can get quotes from different companies: http://coveragequotes.net/index.html?src=1YA nzboqNG67

RE :How much auto insurance do you really need?

like do you need medical or pip, all that extra stuff?

1 following 12 answers

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RE How much auto insurance do you really need?

like do you need medical or pip, all that extra stuff?

I recommend you this site to get quotes -http://lower-quotes.net/lgljiCZ414

RE How much auto insurance do you really need?

like do you need medical or pip, all that extra stuff?

If you own real estate (property), a business or have a large amount of savings, it pays to have a large amount of coverage. That's because, in today's litigious society, if you are involved in an accident and are deemed to be at fault, you would probably lose your house, business and ant savings. Therefore, it makes sense to have more than the minimum state-required coverage whenever possible.

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