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This is a question that I have been asked often and while I can list all the amazing coverages offered to you, the answer really depends on your personal needs and assets.
Let’s start with PLPD coverage only. As most people know, PLPD (Personal Liability, Property Damage) is the minimum coverage needed to drive your vehicle on the road legally. Yet, what a lot of people don’t realize is that PLPD has so many different coverage options on its own.
The dreaded state minimum requirement for Bodily Injury Liability Limits is $20,000 per person up to $40,000 per accident.
If someone else were to be injured in an auto accident that was your fault (or worse, a whole family with multiple kids), that is the coverage you have to offer. That doesn’t mean that the injured person can stop suing you for money after $20,000 or $40,000, it just means that you are on your own to pay anything over that. So you could be paying tens to hundreds of thousands out of your own pocket!
The saddest thing about this incredibly LOW coverage is that better coverage is CHEAP!!! I have seen someone with 1 vehicle & 1 driver have the state minimum and to upgrade to $100,000 per person up to $300,000 per accident was only $25 more for a whole 6-month policy. That’s less than $5 extra a month for more than QUADRUPLE the coverage!
Vehicle Coverage
Then there’s Full Coverage, which means comprehensive (~acts of God coverage) and collision coverage added to PLPD. This is where it all depends on where you are at financially and what your vehicle is worth.
My husband and I do not have loans on our vehicles. Mine is an old beater van that isn’t worth much. According to Kelley Blue Book, (www.kbb.com) the actual cash value is only $1,500. Based on this, it wasn’t worth paying the higher premium for full coverage when that is all the money I would get if it was a total loss in an accident.
Now, my husband’s truck, on the other hand, is worth closer to $6000 actual cash value, and if that truck were to be totaled tomorrow, I would not have a spare $6000 to throw at another vehicle. If I did have enough cash handy to purchase a new/used vehicle tomorrow, I would take off the full coverage (but I don’t) so that truck will stay on full coverage until I do.
It was worth my time and effort to figure out what our vehicles were worth, that way I am insured correctly and not paying more premium than I should!
submitted by Melissa
