winson123

so my renewal is coming and was wondering if its really worth it to increase my limits
to $100,000 bodily injury per person, $300,000 per occurrence and $50,000 property
for about an extra $106 a year?

any insights?

thanks in advance

JLUDE

If you've every had an accident before then yes.

I personally have mine at bare minimum.

With the degree of alertness I have while driving the S, I am more likely to get struck by lightning than to cause a serious at fault traffic accident.

__redruM

I did, the insurance operator on the phone scared me into it. She tried to get me up to 100,000 on property, but come-on, how many new cars can I total at one time.

I guess she was right. Anyone with insurance experience car to chime in?

S2K626

I would definately get it. I was in a car accident 2 years ago and i had 15000/30000 coverage and it almost screwed me over. Now i also have 100k/300k. It's really not worth the risk.

K-Lo

if you have property (ie house etc) that people might try to go after if they sue you after an accident (suppose you don't have $230,000 cash for settlement) then having high limits will protect you and your property from litigation.

DiamondDave2005

Yep, this is when it matters. I had an accident in 1991, back when I made around $30k a year and had no house. I had the minimum insurance, and that's all they paid out to the other person.
They did send a letter later on saying they had overpaid by approx $580 and would I please sign it to accept responsibility for the amount in question. Er, no. Definitely not. Never heard from them again.

K-Lo

exactly, those injury lawyers know that if they can't squeeze money from you they'll just leave you alone. but if you're decently wealthy they'll go after your assets etc... lawyers can smell blood you know.

BrendanC

I am an insurance agent for a a National Company in San Diego, CA

If you own a home, have any assets of any sort, or have a job, then you need more then the bare minium many states will requirre to be "legal"

The state does not care about you or your assets. The bare minimum coverages such as 15/30 or 25/50 are a DOWN PAYMENT on your bankruptcy if you were to find yourself in an accident you are at fault for, and the other person is injured or killed.

The first number of 15/30 in Bodily injury means that your insurance company will may a maximum of 15,000 dollars to the person you injured, (single person). The 30 means 30,000 per accident, so if you injure two people, the max would be 30,000, but the individual limits are 15,000.

What if they are injured to the tune of 20,000. Well, in this case you recieve a letter from your insurance company stating that they have met the limits of the policy you purchased, and that you are "on your own," Soon after, you will recieve letters from laywers, and or companies that will attampt to collect the additional 5k.

Seems pretty silly not to pay 500 more a year or less to get the proper coverages doesn't it?

If you own a home, Have a job, or have any assets that you wish to protect from these occurances, then you will want to buy the company's max coverages, which are many times 250/500, or 500/500. That means that the company will stand behind you for up to 250,000 or 500,000 per person, and 500,000 per accident.

The average non-death injry claim in California in 2001 was 364,000 dollars. These figures usually INCREASE with time.

You can purchase auto and home coverage from the same company, save money while doing it, and qualify for a "Liability umbrella" from 1 to 5 million, which then augments the original 250/500 or 500/500 to the amount the umbrella provides, many times 1,000,000. Seem like alot?

Possible. Here in SoCal, normal people who work thier jobs 9-5 and come home to meat loaf for dinner have 900,000 dollar houses, and 100,000 dollar incomes. 200,000 in 401K.

ONE claim for hitting a child running across the road, or swerving around that child and hitting a mother of three head on and killing her can wipe out THAT life as well as YOURS.

Think of the coverage you DON'T buy as your deductible. Everyone is familiar with 250 or 500 dollar collision deductibles. Think of buying weak coverage as making your deductible 100s of thousands of dollars, and your future wealth.

Many states allow attachment of assets and income until the bill is paid. 30 to 60% can be scraped off your check every 2 weeks until you pay for claim you never thought you would make.

Property damage was brought up. 100k was the spoken limit. What if you hit a SL65? Or maybe a Cayenne Turbo S? Those are both over 100,000.

**THE PRICE DIFFERENCE** between 100 and 250k PD limits is many times 20 dollars a year.

Coverage, when it comes to insurance, is not one of the things you should concentrate on. It should be the ONLY thing that matters.

F355FTS

First off to increase your property damage limits might not cost you hardly anything.

Here in Nebraska i write for Allstate and on my average policy to increase propety damage limits from $50k to $100k cost less then .25 cents a month.

Second if you have assets and the lawyers find out your going to lose them. You should increase your limits to coincied with your assets or future earning potential.

I know a guy who laid his sport bike down because someone backed out of their drive way in front of him. It slid across a yard and killed a little kid playing. He has been making $200 a month payments for the last ten years. He was 21 at the time. With no job. If he was 30 with a job those payments would be more like $500.

Its all about how much risk you want to take.

BrendanC

Insurance is for the POSSIBILITIES not the PROBABILITIES.

"I probably will not kill someone in a Cayenne Turbo S and then swerve into a 250,000 dollar load of Lettuce and cabbage going from Kansas to California"

But is it possible? yep. And thats what the insurance is for.

Pay your premiums in good health, and trust the advice of experienced agents. Do not trust or buy from agents suggesting low coverages. They are price driven and are not to be respected.

If you must buy from an online company (which is many times NOT cheaper - I regularily provide better coverages for customers at a more competitive price, and remove them from places like Gieco, Progressive, Einsurance, etc) then read thier policies very carefully. Who do you go to for arbitration? Who do you call when a claim is not being handled properly?