Coverage articles
What basic car insurance does cover?
What amount of coverage should I get?
 
 

What basic car insurance does cover?

 

There are six different types of coverage most likely included in your auto insurance. For each type there is a separate price.

1. Bodily Injury Liability

This type covers injuries caused to someone else by you. In case you or your family member, listed on the policy, are driving someone's car with permission you are also subjected to this type of coverage.

The size of liability insurance should be larger than the state-required minimum, because in case you're involved in a serious car accident, this could involve a case for a large amount of money. Thus, by enlarging your liability insurance you can protect such important assets like your home.

2. Medical Payments or Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

This type covers the costs of injury treatment to the driver and the passengers of insured vehicle. In its large sense, PIP covers the medical payments, wages lost due to the injury and substitution of services performed by the injured person. In some cases PIP pays for funeral services.

3. Property Damage Liability

This type covers the damage to someone's property that you (or someone else) may cause when driving the insured car. In the majority of cases this type of coverage pays for damages to other cars, but it also includes the damages to infrastructure like poles, fences, buildings that you may cause while driving.

4. Collision

This type of coverage is opposite to the previous one, because it pays for the damages your car takes from collision with another car, or resulting from malfunctioning infrastructure (like in the case of potholes). A deductible from $250 to $1000 is used in collision coverage with the rule that the lower is the deductible, the higher is the premium. In case your actions were the cause of the accident, the collision coverage will reimburse the costs of your car repair with the subtraction of the deductible. If not, you are likely to be also payed from the deductible in case if your insurance company succeeds in covering your costs from the other driver's insurance.

5. Comprehensive

This type of coverage pays for the damages resulting from causes other than direct collision or other traffic accidents. The set of causes is very wide, ranging from fires, explosions, storms to riots and contact with wild animals.

There's usually a $100 to $300 deductible for comprehensive coverage. In case you want a lower premium, you may pay a higher deductible.

In case your windshield is damaged, this type of coverage will also pay for the costs of its repair or replacement. Depending on the car insurance company there may be glass coverage that includes the deductible or not.

6. Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

If you are hit by an uninsured car or the driver has left the scene right away, this type of coverage comes into play.

When the driver who caused the accident hasn't sufficient resources to cover your costs, this involves the use of underinsured motorist coverage. If you are involved in an accident as a pedestrian, this type of coverage is also applied.

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