Auto Insurance
A lot of people don’t understand auto insurance. Obviously, a lot of people carry auto insurance because it is required by law, or required by the lienholder on your vehicle. Unfortunately, people don't see the benefit of having insurance unless they have been in an accident. Well, that is very unfortunate, because if you have bad insurance and you have that serious accident, you could be paying for it for a VERY long time.
I will say that I didn’t know a lot about insurance before I became an insurance agent. Insurance was never really explained to me.One of my goals is to change that with everyone I meet.
Here is a Brief Overview of What The Basic Coverages are on an Auto Insurance Policy:
- Liability:
Comes in 25/50, 50/100, 100/300, 250/500 or higher for Bodily Injuries (BI). Property damage (PD) comes in 15, 25, 50, 100 or higher. The first number is the maximum dollar amount your insurance company has to pay per person in an accident that you are responsible for. The second number is the maximum dollar amount that the insurance company will pay out for each accident (so 25/50 would be up to $25,000 per person, up to $50,000 per occurrence). The property damage will cover any property, like cars, light poles, mailboxes, etc. that is damaged by the accident. These are paid out only to the people or property that you hit.
- Medical Payments or Medical Expense (MP or ME):
This is coverage for you and anyone in your car, regardless of who is at fault on the accident. Typically, this coverage is $5,000 or $10,000 for each person in your car. For those that need “full coverage,” you would add these two coverages to your policy. You will have to pay a deductible ($100, $250, $500, $750, $1,000) and the insurance company will pay the rest to get your car repaired. Obviously, the higher the deductible, the less you will pay for the policy:
- Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist BI (UM/UIM):
These limits cover you and anyone in your car in the event that you are in an accident with somebody who has no insurance, or doesn’t have enough insurance to cover your bodily injuries. For example, you are in an accident that is not your fault, and you have $45,000 in medical bills resulting from the accident. If the other driver has 25/50, you may only receive $25,000 to cover your $45,000 in bills, which leaves you $20,000 in debt. If you have this coverage, you may use your policy to pay the rest of the medical bills (up to the limits of your policy). The person that hit you will pay the insurance company back, and this would allow you to get those doctors paid off. Please note, your UM/UIM coverage cannot be higher than your liability limits.
In the state of Colorado, you can elect to waive the uninsured motorist coverage and/or the medical payments. There are certain situations where you may not need those coverages. I would be happy to assist you in making that determination.
- Collision:
If your vehicle is moving and it hits something (The only exception is if you hit an animal, that would be a comprehensive claim. If you hit the tree when you avoid the animal, that is a collision claim).
- Comprehensive (also known as “other than collision”):
Covers anything from theft, vandalism, hail, tornado, meteorite, shopping carts, trees falling on it, etc.
Give us a Call
Call us today for a more in depth explanation for anything you have read.