Bodily Injury Insurance: A Guide

Car insurance has many parts to it and it can get kind of confusing. There is a lot of paperwork to sift through and things to know. In this article, we will discuss the ins and outs of bodily injury insurance, a very important component to any car insurance policy.

Car insurance companies are alike in that they offer some sort of bodily injury liability. It is very important to have this type of insurance in one's policy. If you are to get into an accident with another driver, bodily injury insurance will pay your legal fees, bail bonds, and court costs if someone is to file a lawsuit against you. It pays when you are legally liable for an injury or death caused by your vehicle. Bodily injury insurance helps prevent liable people from losing their homes, savings and income if they get into a serious accident. Bodily insurance typically has two liability limits. It can pay the first limit for any one person and up to the second limit for all people who were injured or killed in one accident. Keep in mind that bodily injury liability does not cover you or other people who are on your policy. Passengers who are in the liable person's car and who are not on the driver's policy are covered. Also, the liable person's insurance does not cover the damages done to the liable person's car. It only covers other people who were hurt or died as a result of your car. Expenses paid for by bodily injury liability include medical expenses (from injury, sickness, or disease), funeral expenses, lost income, and more.

When you select your car insurance, it is important to select your bodily injury liability limits wisely. You do not want to choose limits that are too low. Basically, if you set your limits too low, you may end up suffering a horrible financial burden, especially if the accident was serious. If a person's limits are two low, then damages may end up exceeding your limits and he/she will have to pay any amount above the limits. Let's say someone has two limits. The first limit is fifteen thousand dollars and pays for one person. The second limit is thirty thousand and this is the maximum amount paid for all injuries in the accident (two or more people). If you crash into another car and there is one person in that car, then the insurance will pay up to fifteen thousand dollars for that person's expenses. If there are two or more people in the car that you crashed into, it will pay whatever their costs are up to a maximum of thirty thousand dollars. If the damages end up being more than fifteen thousand dollars per person or more than thirty thousand dollars for all injuries in the accident, then the owner of the insurance will have to pay whatever is left. So, let's imagine that there are two people in the other car. If the driver has an expense of $25,000 and the passenger has an expense of $5,000, this entire amount would be covered ($30,000 maximum for all people in the occurrence). However, since the driver's amount exceeded $15,000, the liable person would have to pay the extra $10,000. This could prove to be disastrous to ones financial wellbeing because that person may have to dip into savings, sell their property, or even have their future wages garnished.

It is very important for drivers to have car insurance that provides good bodily injury liability. There are a large amount of people who make the irresponsible decision to drive without car insurance (very illegal). If any one of these people is to be held liable for a death or injury in an accident that they caused, they will have to pay everything out of pocket. This includes whatever lawsuit/damages are filed, court costs, legal fees, and more. It is important for a person to cover all bases and know what liability limits to select.

Sources:

"Insurance Policy on Bodily Injury Coverage." Freelegaladvicehelp.com.

"Car Insurance Coverage Definitions." CarInsurance.com