Do You Understand Your Auto Insurance Coverages?
If you’re hesitant to answer this because it is embarrassing, don’t be. Before I became an insurance agent, I did not understand my auto insurance coverages well at all and was fortunate that my agent had recommended good coverages in case something happened.
Many are mistakenly under the assumption that car insurance is something the State of Florida makes us carry and we should just go get the State minimum of $10,000 PIP and $10,000 Property Damage. Many who have done this and been in accidents would now tell you they wish they had understood what the different coverages meant and purchased more of it.
Remember, the purpose of car insurance is not to make the State of Florida happy but to protect you and your families and your possessions whether you get hit or hit someone else. Failure to carry adequate insurance could result in lawsuits against you and your personal assets, massive medical bills, and not being able to replace your wrecked car!
Our plan is to introduce briefly the main coverages on your auto insurance policy and then in the coming months have detailed explanations of each.
- Bodily Injury – When you injure someone else’s body and are responsible for their medical expenses
- Property Damage – When you damage someone else’s property and are responsible for payment.
- Personal Injury Protection – The Florida No-Fault Law wherein no matter who is at fault, each party gets up to $10k medical reimbursement from their own policy for their own injuries.
- Uninsured Motorists – When someone hits and injures you but since they are either uninsured or underinsured, your medical bills are reimbursed out of your own insurance policy.
- Comprehensive Coverage – Called other than collision too, it covers about anything bad that happens to your car, i.e: theft, fire, flood, wind damage.
- Collision Coverage – Covers an actual collision with another car, house, wall, ditch, etc.
- Auto Insurance Coverages Explained – this video will provide a good summary of the coverages.
Scott Love
November 6, 2012