Auto Insurance Tips

Bodily injury liability coverage is part of a personal automobile policy as well as many other types of policies that cover liability. The language in an insurance contract will limit how much bodily injury losses are covered and under what circumstances.

Here are some basic definitions. Liability in a broad sense is any legally enforceable obligation. Bodily injury is harm, sickness disease or death to a human being. As this applies to car insurance liability, this can mean a driver, passenger or a pedestrian.

Property damage is the counterpart to bodily injury. Property damage is damage, destruction or loss of use to tangible property including vehicles. (Costs involving loss or damage to intangible property are not covered by an auto insurance policy. An example of intangible property is good will.)

With a home insurance policy and many auto insurance policies the limits of liability coverage for bodily injury and property damage liability are combined. This type of liability coverage is known as a “combined single limit” or CSL.

Your car insurance policy may have a CSL of $300,000. This means that your policy will costs pay up to $300,000 for an accident. This can all go to one party or be split between several parties. Some or all of the liability payout can be for bodily injury claims. Some or all could be for property damage claims.

Others will have split limits. A split limit may be expressed as follows: $100,000/$300,000/$50,000. The first number is the most it will pay for a bodily injury claim to any one party. The second figure is the most that the policy will pay for bodily injury claims for any one accident regardless of how many drivers, passengers or pedestrians are injured. The third number is the most it will pay to for property damage per accident.

Medical Payments Coverage and Bodily Injury Liability

Bodily injury liability should not be confused with medical payments coverage. Liability insurance is a legal requirement in most states. Medical payments coverage is not included in all policies since it is an optional part of a personal auto insurance policy. This is also called “no fault” coverage.

No fault coverage can pay for small medical bills that are caused by injuries to occupants of your car. This coverage is paid regardless of who is at fault. This type of coverage allows a part to get a claim paid for a small medical bill paid without proving which one of the drivers was at fault.

If you don’t have this coverage or you have more significant medical costs, the other driver’s liability insurance can pay for your medical bills. However, you will probably have more red tape and you will have to prove that the driver of the other vehicle party is at fault.

If you feel less than fully protected by the limits offered by your auto insurance policy, you may want to ask an agent about an umbrella policy. These policies can increase your liability coverage substantially. They provide coverage for claims that exceed your homeowners insurance policy’s or auto insurance policy’s limits.

You will generally need to have your liability coverage with the same company that covers your auto and home. To get more information and prices on this type of insurance policy you can start by calling 877-350-0535 or by requesting competitive auto insurance quotes from us online.

Medical payments coverage is an optional part of a personal auto policy or PAP. It pays for small amounts of medical expenses with a minimum of red tape. These medical expenses must be for treatment for injuries sustained while occupying a motor vehicle.

This coverage allows drivers and other insured persons to get their smaller medical bills paid for by their own insurance company. This saves the injured party time and hassle. It saves the insurance company the money it would take to prove who is liable for the accident. Getting the law and lawyers involved can cost more than the medical expenses, so this makes good sense for everyone.

This is no fault coverage. This means that you are not required to prove that you were not at fault to receive benefits from this part of your Personal Auto Policy’s protection.

“Occupying” can be interpreted by the courts quite broadly. It can include getting into or out of a car, riding in the bed of a truck and even working under the hood.

Medical payments can be paid to cover injuries incurred by more than just the named insured. Other family members in the same household and other occupants of an insured vehicle can have their medical payments covered by this provision of the PAP.

The named insured and his or her other family members can also receive medical payments benefits under their policy an injury incurred in a non owned car. They can also receive these benefits if they are hit by a car while crossing the street.

Since the coverage is designed primarily to cover you and your family members, it is not one of the requirements for registering a car in most states. Liability insurance is one of the requirements and is a non optional coverage of a personal automobile policy. This coverage pays others for their medical bills if you are at fault in an accident that causes injuries.

This coverage is not designed to provide protection for or pay for large medical bills. If the driver of the other vehicle is at fault, you may be able to get your medical bills paid for through the liability coverage of his or her policy. The law allows you to claim reimbursement for larger medical bills from your uninsured motorist coverage, under insured motorist coverage. Your health insurance policy may also be able to pay for larger medical bills not covered or fully covered by an auto insurance policy.

You request an auto insurance quote from our website that includes medical payments coverage or by calling 1-877-350-0535.

It may seem like finding the cheapest car insurance is as easy as taking the time to call one of the phone numbers or to go online to a site mentioned on a TV or radio commercial. Sometimes this is true. Often a local broker can help you find cheaper coverage.

If you shop around and compare rates, you may find that the big name car insurance companies aren’t always cheaper. They often tout how much they are able to save each driver who switched to their companies. However the prices in these commercial offers can be misleading. There may be many more that got quotes from them who stayed with their current broker their prices were too high!

Car insurance rates are based on many factors. Your zip code, your age and the type of cars you drive, your claims history, whether you buy online or off and the motor vehicle record of the drivers you want to insure are all factors. Various discounts that you may or may not qualify also impact the offers the companies might make.

With all of these factors, two drivers who live next door to each other may find that they are offered very different insurance price-quotes. In order to get the best rate for your car insurance policy you really need to shop around and compare different offers yourself.

The insurance companies can take the same data and make different decisions about how many motor vehicle accidents and claims you are likely to have. They will therefore offer different rates to the same people.

You aren’t likely to find the lowest rate by investing just fifteen minutes of your free time. Saving hundreds of dollars each year may take more of an investment and frankly a little more work. However, the money you can save each month by comparing prices and taking with an auto insurance broker can make it worthwhile.

Can one of the auto insurance brokers we work with help you find lower prices for coverage? You can find out more online by requesting free car insurance rate quotes on this site or by calling 877-350-0535.

One key to getting a lower auto insurance rate for a young driver is to do what you can to get all the discounts available. One very important way to lower what you pay is to qualify for the good student discount.

New drivers who have a GPA over 3 will typically qualify for a ten percent discount that is applied to their portion of the rates on their own or their family’s policy. This can mean a lot more money stays in your pocket since the cost for auto insurance for teen drivers is so high.

When you request car insurance quotes online be sure to indicate the GPA of any student you need coverage for on your policy.

When insurance companies insure new young drivers, they can’t assess the risk by using their driving history. Since they are new to the world of driving a vehicle on the road, the carriers have to use other information in order to help determine what rates to charge.

Other pieces of information have to stand in for the driving history. One of those pieces of information is the grades a student gets in school. They offer discounts to better students because they know that these drivers have fewer accidents. Students with better grades tend to be more careful drivers. They tend to cost the company less because they have fewer claims on their auto insurance policies.

There are other tips to help lower your costs on previous posts on this blog. Many readers have saved money on their coverage by using the tips to get better car insurance rates.