Vehicle Insurance in the United States

A split limit liability coverage policy splits the coverages into property damage coverage and bodily injury coverage. In the example given above, payments for the other driver's vehicle would be paid out under property damage coverage, and payments for the injuries would be paid out under bodily injury coverage. Bodily injury liability coverage is also usually split into a maximum payment per person and a maximum payment per accident. The limits are often expressed separated by slashes in the following form: "bodily injury per person"/"bodily injury per accident"/"property damage". This would be expressed as "$15,000/$30,000/$5,000". Another example, in the state of Oklahoma, drivers must carry at least state minimum liability limits of $25,000/$50,000/$25,000. If an insured driver hits a car full of people and is found by the insurance company to be liable, the insurance company will pay $25,000 of one person's medical bills but will not exceed $50,000 for other people injured in the accident. ᠎This con tent　has ​been created wi᠎th GSA Con​te​nt  G᠎enerator Demov​ersi᠎on.

The insurance company will not pay more than $25,000 for property damage in repairs to the vehicle that the insured one hit. Generally, liability coverage purchased through a private insurer extends to rental cars. Comprehensive policies ("full coverage") usually also apply to the rental vehicle, although this should be verified beforehand. Full coverage premiums are based on, among other factors, the value of the insured's vehicle. This coverage, however, cannot apply to rental cars because the insurance company does not want to assume responsibility for a claim greater than the value of the insured's vehicle, assuming that a rental car may be worth more than the insured's vehicle. Most rental car companies offer insurance to cover damage to the rental vehicle. These policies may be unnecessary for many customers as credit card companies, such as Visa and MasterCard, now provide supplemental collision damage coverage to rental cars if the rental transaction is processed using one of their cards. These benefits are restrictive in terms of the types of vehicles covered.

Comprehensive coverage, also known as other-than-collision coverage, is subject to a deductible and covers cars damaged by incidents that are not considered collisions. For example, fire, theft (or attempted theft), vandalism, damage from weather such as wind or hail, or impacts with non-human animals are types of comprehensive losses. Additionally, a few insurance companies list "Acts of God" as an aspect of comprehensive coverage, although this is an old term that is not ordinarily used today. By definition, it includes any events or occurrences that are beyond human control. For example, a tornado, flood, hurricane, or hail storm would fall under this category. While etymologically all living creatures are considered animals, impact with a human is excluded from the definition of "animal" under insurance definitions. In McKay v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 933 F. Supp 635, (S.D.Tex., 1995), the insured's claim was denied for the incident in which an intoxicated pedestrian ran into the side of their vehicle on the freeway. Is online auto insurance shopping on the way out? What Is Full Coverage Car Insurance? Comment fonctionne l'assurance automobile aux USA ? Car Insurance Rates - Average auto insurance premium in each state and D.C.

Liability coverage, sometimes known as Casualty insurance, is offered for bodily injury (BI) or property damage (PD) for which the insured driver is deemed responsible. The amount of coverage provided (a fixed dollar amount) will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Whatever the minimum, the insured can usually increase the coverage (prior to a loss) for an additional charge. An example of property damage is where an insured driver (or 1st party) drives into a telephone pole and damages the pole; liability coverage pays for the damage to the pole. In this example, the drivers insured may also become liable for other expenses related to damaging the telephone pole, such as loss of service claims (by the telephone company), depending on the jurisdiction. An example of bodily injury is where an insured driver causes bodily harm to a third party and the insured driver is deemed responsible for the injuries. However, in some jurisdictions, the third party would first exhaust coverage for accident benefits through their own insurer (assuming they have one) and/or would have to meet a legal definition of severe impairment to have the right to claim (or sue) under the insured driver's (or first party's) policy.