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This is a sue sue sue world. As the lawyer said above get the best insurance possible. When people find out how much you're worth and future possibilities they will sue you for all you're worth.
When they find out how much I'm worth, they won't bother to sue. Of course, I think I'm priceless.
I agree. Thanks markg91359! I was confused on the amounts I needed as well. I moved from NC to MI. I realized MI is a no fault state which makes coverages more important. Also, I don't believe the SEcretary of State keeps up with who has car insurance and who doesn't because I've heard of many people that don't have insurance here. In NC, your plates can be suspended and you pay a fine if you don't have insurance.
The medical payments and lost wages part was also confusing. Paying triple the amount in MI, I want to make sure I have enough insurance.
I don't live in Michigan, but it does give me an opportunity to talk about another aspect of car insurance.
From what I am told, Michigan has a very tough no-fault insurance law. The concept of no-fault insurance is that when you get injured that your primary source of compensation is with your own insurance company even if the other party was totally responsible for what happened.
There are a handful of exceptions in Michigan and states with tough no-fault insurance laws that allow you to sue the other driver for money for pain and suffering and other damages. However, they are rare. They're usually things like: 1. wrongful death; 2. loss of a limb; or a 3. a serious and permanent injury.
My own state has a no-fault law, but it is a very weak law. It provides for limited benefits and clearly contemplates that when another driver is at fault that you will pursue that driver and his insurance company for financial compensation.
Studies show that the highest insurance rates in the country are in states with tough no-fault insurance laws. These laws have become less popular in recent years. A tough no-fault law was repealed in Colorado as a result.
I personally think tough no-fault laws are a bad idea because: (1) the notion that you should be making a claim with your own carrier when it is the other driver that is at fault is fundamentally flawed; (2) As I said above, states with tough no-fault laws have the highest insurance rates in the country; (3) Out of necessity, no fault laws lead to restrictions on the right to sue and increased insurance regulation.
However, it does highlight the fact that insurance laws in all fifty states are a little bit different. You need to be very aware of the laws in a state you are moving into and understand how they affect insurance pricing and your rights to recover compensation if you are involved in an accident. You can't afford to make assumptions that the laws don't change when you move.
It's a very strange system in the US if you ask me. In the UK for example you have only three options for breadth of coverage:
Comprehensive (which is a no limits coverage for everything, including damage to your own car),
Third Party Fire and Theft (a no limits liability coverage for other people you crash into plus the theft in or of your car and fire in your own car)
Third Party (same as above but no coverage for theft from/ of or fire in your own car).
There are no monetary limits for each of these policy types. Seems way more hassle free. No worries about being sued cos everyone is 100% covered for liability and obviously all health is completely covered anyway by the health service in all three cases. I think the US way of treating insurances as if they are cellphone plans is very stress-inducing and is in need of an overhaul.
Let me tell you a story.....my ex was sitting in her Wrangler in the parking lot when some idiot woman in an F350 dually backed into her at a speed that was stupid-hit her hard enough to break her wrists., These were no more than hairline fractures but they were debilitating and the medical bills were $75,000. That happened in a parking lot and both parties walked away. The damage to her Wrangler was over $7K.
I carry a lot more than the minimums, for property and medical. There are people in my area driving $1,000,000 cars. A moments inattention, T-Bone one of those, it's financial ruin. Insurance up!
Here's the thing...$100,000 gets eaten up real quick in a hospital...It could happen in twenty minutes in the ER depending on the situation, ICU stays, time lost from work, you never know. Have as much as you can afford. Even if someone isn't sue-happy, if they're out of work and looking at bills piling up, they will be phoning a lawyer.
Here's the thing...$100,000 gets eaten up real quick in a hospital...It could happen in twenty minutes in the ER depending on the situation, ICU stays, time lost from work, you never know. Have as much as you can afford. Even if someone isn't sue-happy, if they're out of work and looking at bills piling up, they will be phoning a lawyer.
This is probably the most accurate statement anyone here has made. There are occasional people out there who are "sue-happy", but they tend to be rare. The more common situation is a person with an injury who perhaps was earning a low income before an accident. Than, the accident occurs and consequences he/she couldn't imagine occur. Suddenly, that paycheck he was counting on every other Friday isn't there anymore. In some cases, his boss fires him and replaces him with someone who is healthy and can do the job. The consequences of such an accident can overwhelm a segment of the population. Does he go running to a lawyer? Damn right he does.
In some states, this is dealt with by a generous no-fault insurance system that pays virtually all lost wages, all medical bills, and sometimes even compensation for being unable to do traditional household chores (doing dishes, laundry, etc.)
I don't like such no-fault insurance systems because they tend to result in the highest car insurance rates in the country. Insurance rates in New York and Michigan are higher than rates in Illinois and Ohio which do not have no-fault insurance.
However, if such a system doesn't exist in your state, the best way to protect yourself is by purchasing high limits of uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage as protection against loss in a serious accident. Finally, if you have good health insurance, you don't need high limits of med pay/PIP, but if you don't, than you need to greatly increase those limits as well.
Too low, what your property coverage at?. I carry 100/300/100 and i worry thats to low
Same.
If anything, I would increase that coverage. If you insure multiple vehicles on the same policy, and they offer "stacking" on any types of coverage, take that, too. From what I understand, stacked coverage basically doubles your limits if you have two cars, triples if you have three, etc. Even if I'm wrong, an insurance agent I used to use and trust said "always, always, always buy stacked coverage." It's cheap anyway, so that's what I do.
My car insurance is coming up for renewal and my bodily injury liability is 50000/100000 person/per accident.
I don't really know if this is a good amount or not or whether I should change it. I could go as low 25000/50000 but would only save about $19 on my six month premium.
What do you think is a good coverage?
You can never have too much insurance. Ever. It's all a balancing act. I have 500,000/1,000,000. I've been in an accident where I was sued for $1 million. They amended to my policy limit at the time (300k) and eventually settled for nuisance money since I had no liability for the accident. In my particular case, the state minimum would have been fine. Now, let's assume that the accident actually was my fault or I was even partially to blame for it. Maybe they amend the complaint down to my policy limit... or maybe they figure I make pretty good money and go after a garnishment of my salary for the rest of my life. It's not a likely event... but maybe $12 is worth paying to insure against it.
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