All states, with the exception of Florida and New Hampshire, require car owners to have liability insurance for bodily harm. Since you probably need to buy it, it’s smart to know what you get.
Learn more: How does car insurance work? The basics explainedS
Body injury insurance pays for one’s medical accounts if they suffer injuries from an accident you have caused.
Say that you hold another vehicle at a step, causing injury to the neck for the other driver. In this scenario, you are financially responsible for the cost of the injury. Your Body Damage Insurance (BI) pays these bills, plus your legal costs, if you are tried for the accident, to your policy restrictions.
Body injury is one element of automotive insurance. The other is a responsibility for damage to property. They are sold together, each with its own coverage restrictions. The restrictions specify the maximum amounts that the insurance company will pay on your behalf.
Learn more: The most common types of car insurance explained
Insurance companies indicate restrictions on liability coverage with a series of three numbers, as in 25/50/20. Here’s what numbers mean:
1. The first number is the maximum payment of bodily injuries per person in an accident.
2. The second number is the maximum payment of bodily injuries to the accident.
3. The third number is the maximum payment of damage to the property of an accident.
If your liability restrictions are 25/50/20, your insurance company will pay up to $ 25,000 for injuries to one person, but not more than $ 50,000 if many people are injured. The $ 20,000 damage limit pays to repair another vehicle or other property.
Learn more: How much car insurance do I need?
Body insurance liability pays for four types of injuries, for others when you have caused a car accident:
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Medical accounts. These include any accounts of healthcare providers such as emergency services, subsequent treatments and physical therapy.
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Income loss. If the injured person misses work due to the accident, your bodily injury insurance may provide compensation for the salaries lost.
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Pain and suffering. Pain and suffering claims usually arise from court cases involving serious injuries with prolonged recovery periods.
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Funeral costs. If the accident leads to fatality, the liability insurance for bodily harm may pay for the funeral expenses of the deceased.
In addition, the coverage of your liability pays for your legal costs if you are sued.
Your bodily injury insurance does not cover any medical accounts for you or your passengers. Neither your liability insurance covers any repairs to your own vehicle.
The liability insurance will also not pay over your insurance limits. So, if you have purchased low liability restrictions, you are still legitimate to the hook for all other incident accounts for other people after your insurance restrictions have been used.
Learn more: How much does car insurance increase after an incident?
At a minimum, you must buy at least the minimum requirements of your country for car insurance. Each country, with the exception of Florida and New Hampshire, imposes some level of coverage of responsibility for bodily injuries.
The level of minimum coverage of the country allows you to drive legally, but this may not protect your finances. It is smart to buy liability restrictions that are responsible or exceeding your net value, or what you can be tried for in a car accident.
Expert Council: If you are worth $ 80,000, you may want to buy $ 100,000 per bodily injury. This prevents you from deleting financially from a serious car accident.
For persons with high net value, the purchase of umbrella insurance in addition to the car insurance and homeowners is a profitable way to obtain an additional layer of liability insurance.
In most countries, insurance companies sell coverage of bodily damage with a liability for property damage. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the average premium across the country is $ 661.89 per year or $ 55.16 a month.
Protection of personal injuries (PIP) is another type of car insurance that pays for expenses related to injuries arising from car accidents, and in some states you have to buy both liability and PIP.
In PIP’s states, you can still judge the other driver if your injuries are severe and exceed a certain “ours threshold”. That is why you still need bodily injury insurance, even when PIP is required.
Here are the main differences between body insurance and PIP
Driving without bodily harm is illegal in most states. If you are withdrawn without the necessary state insurance, the consequences may include:
1. Stopping registration and registration of vehicles
2. Fines
3. Delaying the vehicle
4. Time for imprisonment or public service
5. Requirement to submit a financial responsibility certificate SR-22
The bigger risk of driving without liability for bodily harm is to cause an accident and have no insurance to pay it. The Insurance Information Institute reports that the average bodily harm request was $ 26,501 in 2023 (the most available data), but the costs could be much higher if there are serious injuries or many people injured.
Learn more: What happens if you don’t have car insurance?
$ 100,000/$ 300,000/$ 100,000 refers to restrictions on automotive insurance. The first $ 100,000 are the amount of a person’s bodily injuries, $ 300,000 is a coverage of body injuries, and the last $ 100,000 is the restriction on a responsibility for liability for property damage. For example, if three people are injured in the accident, the policy will pay a maximum of $ 100,000 for each person and a total of more than $ 300,000.
If you are driving without coverage of bodily injury, you are driving uninsured. You can be tossed or fined if you are caught. You can also stop the registration of your license or vehicle. If you cause an accident, you may be financially responsible for the costs associated with injuring others.
Amy Danis and Tim Mani edited this article