Why do I need more Auto Insurance Coverage Limits?
A commonly asked question is, why do I need any higher limits than are required by law? In this article I’ll explain why I believe it’s not enough. First a little background on how I became interested in insurance which led me to becoming an Insurance Advisor.
It was November 11th 2011 when I received a frantic call. My mother had been involved in an accident. She was driving home from work and an impaired driver pulled out in front of her. She wasn’t able to avoid the car and made impact with it at 55mph. The safety features of the car did its best to protect her but still she was badly hurt. She was extracted from the car and taken by ambulance to the hospital.
After an agonizing surgery to repair her broken leg with plates and pins she was released from the hospital. The rehabilitation took months and she had to have a follow up surgery to repair her leg further. The pain she now experiences when she stands or walks for more than a few minutes has been disabling which led her to be forced from her job.
The other driver as well as my mother had insurance. The other driver had State minimum limits and my mother had more, up to $100,000 which seems like a lot but wasn’t enough. As the dust settled and the medical bills came in, the total cost of this accident far exceeded the liability coverage either of them had.
“In Indiana the mandated by law limits of liability for auto insurance typically isn’t enough to provide you with the coverage you need when things go bad.”
Once the liability limits are reached from the “at fault” driver you possibly could have, but aren’t required by law to carry Uninsured/Underinsured motorist coverage. My mother did have this coverage but it was only up to $100,000. The bills exceeded that by tens of thousands of dollars.
As I eluded to earlier, this incident caused me to investigate my own auto liability coverages and Uninsured/Underinsured motorist coverage. This ultimately led me to study and become a Licensed Insurance Advisor.
Indiana only requires you to carry 25/50/25 limits. So that’s $25,000 per single car accident with $50,000 total for multi-car accident and $25,000 in property damage. You read that right, the State of Indiana requires you to have only $25,000 in coverage for a single car accident.
In 2017 it’s reported that the average price of a new car is over $32,000. How about the average cost of a hospital visit or surgery You can see where you can quickly exceed what the state requires you to carry to legally drive on the road.
You might have heard the saying, “A smart person learns from their mistakes. A wise one learns from the mistakes of others.” My commitment to you is to make sure you understand your insurance and that you have enough coverage when that rainy day happens.
Bryan McCarty
Trusted Insurance Advisor