Hi-
I searched the forums and couldn't find an answer to this...

This will be my first car w/ full insurance coverage (all my past crappy used cars had only liability). I was just curious as to the recommended coverage limits.

I got a quote from Geico for:

liability: $100K/$300K/$50K
individual injury: $10K
uninsured motorist: $100K/$300K/$50K

comprehensive/collision deductible of $500

Is this enough coverage?

any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

That's the same coverage I have from Geico, so I'd say it's enough. Just don't go hitting a Bentley or other fancy car. Then again, I rent and don't own a home. If you have a lot of assets, I'd get more coverage or umbrella coverage.

 

1. 100/300/50 is pretty good, but these days... that "50,000" for PD liability is not enough. There are too many new cars on the road that are valued over $50,000. And what if you're at fault in an accident where you total out a couple of nice cars ?

My recommendation: 100/300/100.

And if you're someone who has considerable assests that would be subject to a lawsuit if your coverages aren't sufficient, I highly recommend a PLUP (Personal Liability Umbrella Policy) for $1,000,000. It's not that expensive and will CYA, if you get my drift.


2. Your comp and collision deductibles are okay. But I would recommend lowering the comp deductible to $100. Not that much more in premium and $500 is a lot to pay out if your windshild is cracked by a stone, you hit an animal, your car gets vandalized, etc, etc, etc, etc.


3. Call State Farm.

 

thanks, I rent and have no other assets.

 

Then you don't need a PLUP.

But seriously consider upping your liability limits to 100/300/100. I'd hate to see you get sued and lose your MINI.

 

+ 1 to both. It makes sense to change to a $100 deductible for comprehensive coverage.

Been w/ State Farm for over 12 years and never looked back. They have been great to me and my family over the years from a service perspective. Of course this doesn't acount for differences in premiums due to location, etc., but if State Farm is competitive in your area rate-wise I would recommend them over other competitors.

 

i've chosen to switch to state farm last spring cuz they handle all automatic, homeowner & flood at once.

please correct me if i am wrong. however my comp deductible is $500 except my windshield glass should be insured without requiring deductible first. of course, you mentioned like hit an animal, gets vandalized, etc... requiring deductible first.

 

Most insurance companies, and in most states, there no longer is a waiver of deductible for glass-only claims.

If your State still offers it, good for you. But don't look for it to continue much longer.

It was designed to save insurance companies money in the long run (chips are cheaper to repair than windshields are to replace). But companies underestimated the number of claims they'd be paying for and lost a lot of money on these claims.

 

Personally, I recommend the $100 comp deductible. It's very little additional money. If your car gets dinged in a parking lot (and it probably will during it's lifetime) you'll be glad you have it.

 

sighed, i need to ask my insurance agent how much it will cost me for $100 comp deductible instead of $500 comp deductible.

thank for advice!

 

The amount of liability insurance to carry (personal injury and property damage) depends in large part upon your financial situation. You might want to look into an umbrella policy to pick up after somewhat lower basic coverage. In my case, I have 50,000/100,000/50,000 basic coverage, with a much larger umbrella, and it's cheaper than higher basic coverage by itself. Best thing is to identify a professional casualty insurance broker (someone with experience who handles multiple lines, not just someone who sells a particular company) and take his/her advice.

 

I already mentioned a PLUP to the OP and he said he really has no assets to be concerned about.

But for others, yeah, a Personal Liability Umbrella Policy very well might be a good idea.

And sorry for the nitpicking, but don't confuse Personal Injury Protection with Bodily Injury Liability coverage. Sounds like what you might be doing when you call it Personal Injury Liability.

Bodily Injury Liability coverage or "BI" is for persons injured as a result of you being at fault in an accident. Whether they are passengers in your car or persons in another vehicle, if you are liable for their injuries, that coverage would pay.

Personal Injury Protection (called by other names in other states, such as Medical Payments Coverage), pays for your own medical expenses or those of injured in your own automobile, regardless of who was at fault in the accident. This coverage has a relatively low cap, normally $2500 per person.

 

LIABILITY, UIM/UM, AND AN UMBRELLA
When considering your Liability (BI) and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM)coverages and an Million Dollar Umbrella, there is a little understood difference that can be very important to you, personally, as more and more drivers on the road are carrying minimum limits or no insurance at all.

The Umbrella will increase your Liability or BI coverage for accidents that are your fault, and protect you against claims made against you by others. However, in my home state of Maryland, the Umbrella does not increase your UM or UIM coverage. This could become a dire issue if you are hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver and seriously injured. In this situation, your UM/UIM coverage will max out at your coverage limits and the Umbrella will not be available to help you recovery from your own serious personal injury.

Because of this, I always carry $500,000 Liability and $500,000 UM/UIM along with my umbrella just in case I am hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver. At least I know I will have a maximum of $500,000 to protect me in this kind of accident.

PIP/MEDPAY/HEALTH COVERAGE:
Most companies (at least here in MD) allow you to purchase extra no-fault Personal Injury Coverage (PIP) which is great because it covers both medical bills and lost wages. Allstate and Geico offer up to $10,000. I think State Farm limits their PIP coverage to the State minimum of $2,500. But you can purchase additional Medical Payments coverage to make up the diff. (but it doesn't cover your lost wages) PIP is great disability insurance for wages since there is no repayment requirements and no waiting periods like traditional disability policies. (I think that's why insurance companies don't like this coverage very much) Another good thing about these coverages is that you do not have to repay your company for these benefits if you recover money from the 'at fault' driver. In other words there is no "Right of Subrogation". (You usually do have to pay back any money paid by your health insurer for your medical bills).

 

Not a bad overall post, you make some good points.

But you got the bolded part wrong. $10,000 is the highest PIP limit in MD for SF also.

And one thing you didn't mention is that PIP only pays 85% of lost wages.

And btw, PIP is a mandotory coverage in MD unless you sign a waiver saying you do not want it. And I would disagree with your assessment that insurance companies "don't like it". You pay for the coverage... many times every day I encourage injured parties to use their PIP coverage.

And one thing people should know about PIP coverage is that in many States, MD is not one of them... if you are the innocent party in a multi-car accident, you have to choose either the BI liability coverage from the other company, or your own PIP coverage--you can't collect both.

 

Hi CR&PW&JB -
You are correct and I apologize. I mentioned I wasn't sure if it was State Farm that limits the amount of PIP it sells. In fact, come to think of it, it may be Allstate. One of the majors definitely limits it to $2500.

Here in Maryland, IMO, the insurance lobby does not like PIP and would like to get rid of it all together. After years of lobbying, the insurance industry was successful in getting the legislature to allow the PIP "opt-out" waiver provision. IMO, the waivers have caused a lot of problems because the law is so broad as to who is affected by the waiver (for example, family members and members of your household who don't even know you opted out) Another problem is that the people who usually opt out, are the ones who can't afford health insurance. So when they are injured in an accident, it really can get bad for them.

BTW, PIP used to pay 100% of the wages. The reduction to 85% was another concession to the insurance lobby that was made a few years ago. ( I'm not trying to pick a fight, but I've been doing this for about 25 years now )

You are also correct about other states. The District of Columbia has a "no-fault" law that makes you choose between your PIP and making a claim against the negligent third party. A lot of people don't realize it and make the wrong decision. Once the election is made, they are stuck.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE TO REALIZE THAT THE INSURANCE LAWS OF EACH STATE DIFFER DRAMATICALLY. As someone said earlier, it is crucial that you discuss these coverages with an insurance professional and, if possible, with a lawyer who has been practicing in this area of the law. Mistakes or misunderstandings in your coverages can lead to big headaches if something happens. And once the event happens, you are stuck with the coverage you had at the time.

 

Hey, Rich... I don't take any exception to anything you stated in this post, so don't worry about ruffling any of my feathers.

Agree on the PIP waiver procedure, too... not only affects your family members, but anyone riding in your car. I can honestly say though, 99+ percent of the policies we sell, we write them with PIP coverage. Our agents discourage waivers.

Always nice to talk with someone who knows the business and I appreciate you helping to educate NAMmers on auto insurance. Can never have too many of us doing that.

 

State Farm is a great company. I agree that I don't see policies from State Farm with the waiver very often. I have friends who have worked for them over the years and currently. And I have always thought that their Homeowner Claims side offers some of the best customer service in the state.

Unfortunately, that PIP waiver is heavily promoted by certain Agencies who sell coverage with a certain insurance company. I won't name names, but the initials of the company they sell for are M.A.I.F. These agencies also like to promote their own 'hospital coverage' and other "creative coverages" instead of the PIP, which is quite interesting to work through when someone has a claim. But such is the life!!

 

Ugh... MAIF.... I hate handling a claim when the other vehicle is insured through MAIF. If I can ever reach one of their claim handlers... and that's a big IF, it takes them forever to conclude a liability investigation. And their insureds very often do not carry enough coverage, leaving us to handle a lot of UIM claims.


For those of you who don't know what that is, and actually care , MAIF is operated by the state's insurance department. In other words, when you can't qaulify for insurance, normally due to your bad driving record, the state will write your policy. In Maryland, the state-operated insurance is called Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund.

 

I don't know how State Farm treats their insureds, but I know they can be a PITA when their party was at fault...but as a policy holder you wouldn't really care about that.

Nobody beats USAA when it comes to insurance but you have to have a military connection to get it. As for companies open to the public you have to go with AMICA. Consistently wins the ratings in all categories when USAA is excluded.

I'd consider 100/300 the minimum limit these days. I'd think about umbrella even as a renter if you ever travel outside of the states due to the portable nature of the coverage.

 

Sounds like you had a bad experience with us (State Farm) as a claimant. Without you giving any details, how do we know if you were mistreated, or just didn't like the outcome ?

And given we handle hundreds of thousands of claims every year, can't be surprised when there's one claimant not happy. You have to look at the big picture and hope to have about 90% of your customers pleased. And that's hard to do in our business.

Ever heard one of our competitors' commercials that says, "80% of our claims customers liked our service" ? That means 20 percent did not.

And you're wrong that we care more about our insured's than we do our claimants. We view every claimant as a potential policyholder... if we handle the claim well, we may persuade them to come to us. And I've personally done that many times.

 

It was an injury crash and I was in no hurry to settle in case there were further complications. The claims agent became very irritated at my refusal to settle before the end of the year and started lying about when the statute of limitations would be up to try to scare me into settling and even sent me an unsolicited check hoping I'd sign. Unfortunately for her I also worked at an insurance company at the time and knew better.

Most likely the case of a bad apple but you only get one first impression.

AMICA's the best kept 'secret' in the industry since you don't see ads for them. But check them out. Consistently take top honors in price, coverage, and service. And on top of that they pay out dividends to the insureds.

And no, that's not who I worked for

 

I can only hope that particular claim rep didn't know the statute of limitations in your state. That's BAD, but not as bad as intentionally trying to mislead you about them.

We often try to settle our older claims but not if we feel the injured party still requires legitimate medical care. But at the same time, I hope you understand the nature of our business and the percentage of claims where we have to settle an injury for a party that we are very certain was never injured in the first place.

Sounds like your claim was not handled very well. But overall, we have the highest rated claims service in the country and we handle more claims than anyone as the nation's largest insurer.

 

And naturally have the highest number of complaints because of that despite having a relatively low department of insurance complaint ratio.

But for the complaint ratio they actually are beaten significantly by my former employer, Cincinnati. Maybe they need to brush up on their Ohio operations.

 

Never heard of them.

Pretty easy to please a higher ratio of customers when you only have three of them.

 

Not surprising since they only sell through independent agents, thus no ads. But they do have a bit more than 3

Cincinnati Insurance...they've broken into the Fortune 500, write in 30 some states(including MD) at about $20billion in annual premium production.

Impressive that they do that much working with essentially no marketing other than word of mouth and the recommendation of an independent agent.