Review Car

Liability Coverage

Liability insurance only covers property damage or bodily injury for which the insured driver is responsible for. The amount of coverage that is provided varies from state to state. The driver has the option of choosing the basic amount that the state will allow or for an additional charge, can increase the amount of coverage. 

Property damage covers the damage an insured driver causes such as if the driver hits a telephone pole and causes damage to the pole, the driver will be responsible for damage to the telephone pole plus they may also be responsible for other damages. Some of these damages could include loss of service claim, which is where the telephone company would file a claim for damages. 

In bodily injury, this is where the insured driver cause injury to another person in regard to a car accident. In some states they require the person who was hurt to first use their own insurer's coverage for accident benefits plus they would have to meet a legal definition of severe impairments before they can claim under the other driver's policy. 

If one party sues the other party in an accident, and it goes to court, both parties will have to submit copies of their insurance cards to the court. This is to prove that they both had liability coverage. 

In some states you can get liability coverage in as a split limit policy or a combined single limit policy. With a split limit policy the company usually splits the coverage into bodily injury coverage and property damage coverage. If there is a wreck, and the driver is at fault, the damage to the cars would be paid for by the property damage coverage and there are injuries to the occupants of the cars bodily injury coverage would pay for that. 

With Bodily injury coverage it is also split into two parts, which are a maximum payment per accident and a maximum payment per person. When you look at your insurance policy you might see something with a break down of coverage. For example, for injury/death to one person, the insurance would pay up to $15,000, for injury/death to more than one person, the insurance would pay up to $30,000, and if there is property damage the insurance company would pay up to $5,000. These amounts can vary according to how much you want each limit to be. 

With a combined single limit, there is one single combined limit by combining the property damage coverage and the bodily injury coverage together.