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Higher Liability Limits on your Automobile Policy are Affordable and Important...
The state of South Carolina mandates that every vehicle be insured with liability insurance and that the liability limit must be at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage, commonly shown as $25/50/25. What do these limits really mean to you?
Suppose you are involved in an accident that is your fault – you ran the red light and hit another car in which there were 3 passengers. Your insurance policy has liability limits of $25/50/25. Your policy would thus be able to provide up to $25,000 for injuries to any one person in the other car and up to a total of $50,000 for injuries to all three people (limited to the $25,000 for one person). Your policy would also provide up to $25,000 to repair the damages to the other car.
Now suppose this was a very serious accident. All three occupants of the other car are hospitalized with broken limbs and/or life-threatening injuries. The hospital/doctor bills for Person A are $35,000, for person B, $17,500, and for person C, $11,400. This totals $63.900. Your policy will be able to pay $25,000 to Person A plus $11,400 to Person C, and $13,600 to Person B. (Person A has been paid under the $25,000 per person bodily injury limit and Persons B & C under the $50,000 bodily injury limit for all injuries [$25,000 + $11,400 + $13,600 = $50,000]).
Only Person C has had all bills paid. Person A will be looking to you personally for $10,000 and Person B, to you for $3,900. Would you have that kind of cash in your checking account?
Now suppose the other car was a 2010 Mercedes and the car is a total loss. The blue book value of the car is $47,500. Your policy will pay only $25,000 and thus the owner of the car will be looking to you for the additional $22,500. Would you have that kind of cash in your checking account?
It is possible the other car had underinsured motorist coverage that would cover these expenses but can you take that chance?
A simple solution to avoid such a financially troubling situation is for you to increase the liability limits on your policy from $25/50/25 to $50/100/50. And the additional premium is quite affordable! If your policy premium is $350 for the $25/50/25 limits, the additional cost for the $50/100/50 limits would cost in the range of an additional premium of only $35 to $50!
Had you had these higher limits when the above accident occurred, your insurance company would have covered all the medical bills and repair costs! And all for just a few dollars!!
Ask your insurance agent about higher liability limits on your policy. If you have the $50/100/50 limits, ask about increasing the limits to $100/300/100. If you have $100/300/100, ask about $250/500/100. If you have $250/500/100, ask about a personal umbrella policy with a $1,000,000 limit. A few extra dollars in premium can save you a bundle down the road!!
Click here to contact us and talk to one of our agents about increasing your liability limits.
Related Resources...
Auto Accident Guide
Here is a link to our C. T. Lowndes & Company Auto Accident Guide. Print it out and keep it in your glove box in case you ever have an auto accident.