Millions of drivers think that if they’re in an accident, the liability part of their car insurance policy will pay to repair their vehicle or take care of their medical bills. If these drivers have liability only car insurance, this isn’t the case. Liability only insurance covers costs related to other cars and people riding in or driving them: not you or your vehicle. It provides coverage in cases where you’re either fully or partially responsible for an accident. 

What is Liability Only Car Insurance?

According to the Insurance Information Institute, there are two kinds of liability only car insurance. One covers bodily injuries, and the other covers property damage. The reason it’s important to have both bodily injury and property liability insurance is that if you’re in an accident, you could be sued for a large amount of money. Having enough liability only car insurance will protect your savings and your home from lawsuit risk.

You can get high-quality liability only car insurance. It’s easy to find out how affordable your policy can be and how much coverage you can get with a quote from Glacier Insurance.

What Does Liability Insurance Cover?

Liability insurance for bodily injury covers injuries to passengers or drivers in other vehicles. Liability only insurance for property damage covers damage to other vehicles or, potentially, other types of property that could be damaged in an accident. 

Choosing the Right Amount of Coverage

The main purpose of liability insurance is to provide you with protection in case you’re involved in an accident and lawsuits are filed. At a minimum, you’ll need help to pay legal costs. If any awards are made, you could be held liable to pay for them personally. That puts your home, savings, and any other assets at risk. 

Pennsylvania, like many states, has minimum required amounts of bodily injury and property damage liability insurance. To legally drive in Pennsylvania, you must purchase a liability-only policy for $15,000 per person or $30,000 total (per accident) and property damage of $5,000 per accident. 

Pennsylvania also uses comparative responsibility to determine how awards are made following an accident. You could be in an accident where you had only partial fault. You’ll still have liability for a portion of the medical bills or repair bills that is determined during the claims process. So, if you’re found to be 20% responsible for an accident, you will have 20% responsibility for medical bills. A 20% responsibility to pay a $200,000 medical bill equals $40,000.

Bodily Injury coverage

In 2017, the Nolo legal website surveyed hundreds of website users involved in personal injury cases. The average case award was $52,200, and Nolo users with lawyers got an average of over $75,000 in case settlements. Thinking about how much medical and legal bills can cost and also the value of your home and savings, coverage levels of $100,000, $250,000 or even $500,000 aren’t unreasonable for bodily injury per person or per accident. Bodily injury coverage per accident is usually double the amount of bodily injury per person involved in an accident.

In terms of property damage, financial advisers recommend that you purchase enough coverage to pay for repair or replacement of most vehicles on the road. While you probably won’t plan to have enough coverage to replace the world’s most expensive cars going for $2 to $3 million and up, you will probably want enough coverage for a normal SUV, truck, or sedan.

What expenses are not covered by this policy?

Liability only coverage applies to other vehicles and people who are involved in an accident with you. It does not cover damage to your car, or injuries that you may suffer. Collision coverage will cover damage to your car in case you’re in an accident and it’s your fault. Uninsured motorist coverage will pay for damage to your car or injuries in case you’re in an accident and the other driver is uninsured. And comprehensive coverage will pay for damage to your car that isn’t related to an accident. It will cover damage like vandalism, storm damage, or theft.

Who Should Choose This Policy/It’s that simple?

If you have a car loan, you need to have comprehensive and collision insurance, because your loan requires it. If your car is paid off or an older model, you can choose cheap liability-only car insurance. All you need to do is take your financial situation and family needs into consideration. You can choose a liability-only policy at an affordable price and Glacier Insurance can help.