Unfortunately, today we live in a litigious society. It’s a good time to ask- “do I have enough coverage? With the rising costs of vehicles, declining morals and the continued inflation- you may want to consider your options when it comes to how much coverage you need.
Scenario 1
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- Let’s say you’re driving along on a two lane highway. The car in front of you stops suddenly because of road construction. You do your best to swerve & miss it, but in the process hit another vehicle in the other lane and then swerve back into the vehicle you tried to miss. Unfortunately, California would probably find you at fault for not being in control of your vehicle. Let’s say that the vehicle you hit first was a brand new 2019 Ram 1500 Limited, and the vehicle that you tried to miss was a 2001 Subaru Outback. Both cars were deemed a total loss with damages adding up to $63k. An average policy for a homeowner covers roughly $100/300,000 Bodily Injury Liability limits with $50,000 Property Damage. In this scenario, you’d owe $13,000. As you can see with the cost of vehicles going up, Property Damage Liability is often overlooked and is an important coverage to review. (This is assuming there’s no Bodily Injury.)
Scenario 2
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- Let’s now say that you are the person that was driving that 2019 Ram 1500. Since it is a brand new vehicle you have full coverage on your truck with a collision deductible at $500. You also have a very important coverage called Collision Deductible Waiver for Uninsured/ Underinsured drivers. In this instance, the other driver was “underinsured” and this coverage would pay the difference in damages the other driver’s insurance was not able to.
There are many coverages to consider:
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- Do you have or need “Full Coverage”? This typically refers to Comprehensive and Collision coverages with deductibles and largely depends on value of the vehicle and whether or not you could survive the loss of the vehicle should something happen. Collision is pretty easy to understand. For example, you ran into something like a tree, car or rock in the road (except for this caveat- if the rock was moving it would be a comprehensive claim). Comprehensive would be everything other than collision or Acts of God (deer, tree falling on your vehicle, windshields, theft, vandalism are examples).
- How much do you own? Are your liability limits enough to protect you should there be a nasty accident? Remember they’re accidents- not on-purposes! (You may want to consider an umbrella policy- possibly the best opportunity to buy peace of mind/ and cheap attorney coverage.)
- Can you survive loosing your vehicle for an extended period of time? If not, rental car coverage is important.
- Can you afford emergency services or long distance towing? Towing coverage is usually pretty inexpensive when compared to AAA.
- Auto policies typically pay Actual Cash Value, but if you buy a new car- Replacement Cost and Loan Gap are great options.
- OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) is an important coverage if you want original replacement parts.
There is so much more available and this is exactly why you need an agent- a real person- not an 800 number, to walk you through the maze of insurance. When the “what if” happens, your agent can tell you “we’ve got this”!.
Call us to discuss any questions or needs you may have… and thanks!
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