LIABILITY INSURANCE

• Liability insurance -- Helps protect you and your assets if you cause an injury to others or damage the property of others with your vehicle.
• Bodily injury liability -- Protects you in the event you are determined to be responsible for an accident in which someone is hurt or killed.
• Property damage liability -- Covers the damage your vehicle causes to someone else's property, such as their car, mailbox or a fence on their land.

If you are judged to be legally liable for an auto accident, you may be held responsible for property damage, hospital and medical payments, rehabilitative care, lost income and even the pain and suffering of the injured person. You can be sued for the full cost of the damages. If the cost of this loss exceeds the amount of your liability insurance coverage, you may have to pay the rest. So, be sure you have sufficient liability coverage to protect your assets.

How do You Know how Much Liability Insurance You Have?

Your insurance policy usually describes the amount of liability coverage you have as a series of three numbers, called split limits. Suppose your contract coverage reads 50,000/100,000/50,000. In this example, $50,000 is the maximum the insurance company will pay for bodily injuries to any one person in the accident. The maximum amount paid for all bodily injuries, no matter how many people are hurt in the accident, is $100,000. The maximum amount paid for damage to someone else's property in the accident is $50,000. Your Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability may also be shown as a single limit, e.g., $100,000 Combined Single Limit (CSL).

Do You Have to Carry  Liability Insurance?

Many states require drivers to carry a minimum amount of liability insurance of approximately 20,000/40,000/10,000. That means there would be $20,000 to cover injuries to any one person, $40,000 total for all injuries, and $10,000 for property damage.