You will never know how much insurance coverage you will need until you need it, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. First let’s take a look at what Auto Insurance Liability covers. There are two parts to your liability coverage the first is bodily injury liability and the second is property damage liability.

Bodily injury liability covers just that, injuries that are caused do to an auto accident:

1. Emergency aid at the scene

2. Medical expenses for bodily injury

3. Compensation for loss of income

4. Funeral expenses

5. Legal defense fees and/or bail bonds for anyone listed on your policy

Property Damage Liability covers the damage that is sustained in an accident:

1. Structural damage to homes, storefronts, etc.

2. Repair or replacement costs for other stationary objects

3. Vehicle repair or replacement costs

So now the question is what limits of coverage do I need? Each state has there own minimum guidelines. Usually around $15,000/$30,000 $15,000 but that will vary by state. When you look at the coverage’s I just wrote down you might be thinking there are three numbers there not two I don’t understand. Bodily injury liability coverage comes in two forms either split limit coverage which is shown above or single limit coverage.

Split Limit coverage: Limits are split into two for bodily injury coverage and then there is a separate coverage for property damage. If you take the example from above $15,000/$30,000 coverage, the $15,000 represents the total amount of bodily injury coverage that will be paid out to any one person during an accident. The $30,000 represents the total amount of bodily injury coverage that will be paid out for the entire accident. If you had a single limit of coverage it would include a maximum to be paid out but no individual maximum and it could be divided however needed.

Property Damage coverage is always the last number which is represented by $15,000 in the example above.

What is right amount of liability coverage? The most common amount of coverage is a split limit of $100,000/$300,000 bodily injury with a property damage coverage equal to $50,000. People that take out lower limit are really exposing themselves to financial disaster if they can’t afford to pay the difference when an accident occurs. For example, say you have $15,000/$30,000 bodily injury coverage and $15,000 property damage coverage. You get into an accident that is your fault with two vehicles a five year Honda Accord and two year old Chrysler 300. There are three people in the Honda and one person in the Chrysler. All have minor injury but are brought to the hospital and the person driving the Chrysler stays overnight for observation. Their bills will run over your $30,000 maximum for Bodily injury and the person driving the Chrysler will have individual hospital cost of more than $15,000. What does that mean? Once your coverage is used up you will be responsible for the rest. With hospital cost as expensive as they are that could mean a very costly bill to you. This doesn’t even take into account the amount of property damage that needs to be paid out. Since you hit two cars the damage for both comes out at $19,000. That is another $4,000 out of your pocket. The worst part of the whole thing was you thought you had full coverage and that it didn’t matter what happened. Full coverage only means that you have liability coverage, comprehensive and collision coverage but your limits on liability are the most important. Make sure they are set properly.

I would suggest never having coverage less than $100,000/$300,000 for bodily injury and $50,000 property damage with even higher coverage recommended. The cost to go from $15,000/$30,000 to $100,000/$300,000 or even higher shouldn’t be more than a couple of hundred dollars a year at most. I would rather spend a couple hundred dollars more per year than be stuck owing thousand due to medical bills for a person that I injured in an accident. When talking with your insurance agent always get quotes with higher liability limits so you can compare the different prices between coverage. If you need to off set cost a little and you are getting full coverage consider having a higher collision deductible, but insurance cost savings is another topic to be written about later.