Why You Need Higher Liability Limits for Your Car Insurance
A friend of mine was rear ended in a car accident about a month ago. She was waiting at the stop light on her way to work in the morning. The morning sun was in everyone's eyes and the driver behind her could not see the cars stopped at the stop light.
That driver plowed into her car and caused a chain reaction pushing the next car into the next car... eventually damaging five other cars.
My friend's car was totaled and she is still going through physical therapy and rehabilitation. The other cars were also all damaged and those drivers are likely going through some form of rehab as well.
Last I heard, the estimate for damages was around $73,000. The driver that caused the accident had only minimum liability coverage ($15,000 per person injured, $30,000 total bodily injury for the accident, $5,000 for property damage). His policy limits had been reached very quickly. That means the cost to pay for the rest of bodily injury and damage to everyone's cars was his responsibility. That's a $37,000 bill... and still growing as the cost of medical payments for those injured is ongoing.
Do you have an extra $37,000 lying around? Neither do I. That's why important for you to raise your liability limits as soon as possible. It's pretty cheap actually to increase your coverage beyond the minimum required.
I personally have 100K per person injured, 300K injury total for accident and 100K for property damage.
Contact your insurance agent as soon as possible and find out how much it will cost to make this change. Remember, you can't increase it after an accident has happened and hope it will cover you. It may cost an extra few dollars... but certainly not an extra $37,000 dollars.
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