Auto Insurance In Mass.: How Much Do I Need? (Boston: lawyer, house)

[BrooklineBiker]

Originally Posted by 1200RT

As was mentioned earlier (and well said), insurance is as much about protecting the asset (the car) as it is protecting the rest of your assets. If you're in an accident and you reach the limits of your policy, it is possible that you will be sued for the balance of damages - this could include real estate (although primary residence might be off the table depending on your state laws), bank accounts, jewelry, whatever.

Maybe if you can be more specific with your question we can help you?

Thanks. What points do I need to be more specific on?

If it helps, I'm trying to figure out what kind of limits I need in the policy. How much is enough coverage such that if I hit a pedestrian, skid on an icy road into a van full of kids, a tree branch falls and crushes the roof of the car, or some other disaster, that I can compensate the injured appropriately, avoid bankruptcy, and repair the vehicle?

What coverage do I actually need? What is excessive?

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by BrooklineBiker

Thanks. What points do I need to be more specific on?

If it helps, I'm trying to figure out what kind of limits I need in the policy. How much is enough coverage such that if I hit a pedestrian, skid on an icy road into a van full of kids, a tree branch falls and crushes the roof of the car, or some other disaster, that I can compensate the injured appropriately, avoid bankruptcy, and repair the vehicle?

What coverage do I actually need? What is excessive?

It’s theoretically limitless. How much do you think you’re worth? Get that amount of liability coverage.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by BrooklineBiker

Thanks. What points do I need to be more specific on?

If it helps, I'm trying to figure out what kind of limits I need in the policy. How much is enough coverage such that if I hit a pedestrian, skid on an icy road into a van full of kids, a tree branch falls and crushes the roof of the car, or some other disaster, that I can compensate the injured appropriately, avoid bankruptcy, and repair the vehicle?

What coverage do I actually need? What is excessive?

Also, make sure you have enough uninsured and under-insured coverage. If you get into an accident with someone from NH who doesn't carry insurance or some dingbat who is unlicensed/uninsured, etc. you're gonna want to have that coverage.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by WestieWhitie

Wait, what? A used Corolla is $28K? Dafuq?

$28K for a used corolla? I'm having a hard time with that as well! I bought a couple year old, low mileage 5 series for around that price not that many years ago!

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by BrooklineBiker

If it helps, I'm trying to figure out what kind of limits I need in the policy. How much is enough coverage such that if I hit a pedestrian, skid on an icy road into a van full of kids, a tree branch falls and crushes the roof of the car, or some other disaster, that I can compensate the injured appropriately, avoid bankruptcy, and repair the vehicle?

In my experience is not much more expensive to increase the coverage amount.
The most critical is the coverage toward a third party. It really depend how much you want to risk honestly, excluding killing multiple people (that's going to be a different problem) how likely is it going to be for you to reared a Ferrari at high speed, send the 2 occupants of the car to a hospital and end up with your car in someone's living room? Probably very low but it's possible. It depends how much risk you are willing to take.

[matrix5k]

Jesus a used Corolla is 28k now?? I bought a new Accord for 19k out the door, so it was around 17k at the time. The Civics were probably 12-15k back then.

[Boston_Burbs]

Liability depends on how rich you are.

Property damage to others should be at least $100k due to all the luxury cars on the road, especially in Brookline

[r_p]

Originally Posted by Boston_Burbs

Liability depends on how rich you are.

Property damage to others should be at least $100k due to all the luxury cars on the road, especially in Brookline

You're assuming potential damage to a single vehicle. My wife was once involved in a multi-vehicle accident that involved a pick-up truck that totaled 3 cars (one behind the other) and caused significant damage to 3-4 others as it hit stalled traffic on I-95. Given the prices of cars these days that's at least $200-$250k.

Having said that I always get the minimum

[BostonMike7]

Post #3 is pretty typical. I've typically set that as my minimums and then add on top of that.

What's your risk profile? Are you parking on the street? In the winter? You may want to set the lowest deductible as even though you aren't driving, the odds of getting sideswiped by a plow are high in these parts.

Do you own property other than your home? If so, you may want to increase coverage to protect your assets in case someone tries to sue you for everything

Is the car paid off? If not, the lien-holder may have minimum requirements.

DO you want gap insurance? A used Corolla might be $28K today, but if the used car market returns to normalcy that value may drop quicker than the remaining loan. If the vehicle it totalled out, you would either need to pay the difference out of pocket, or use the insurance coverage.

Finally, what's your driving profile like? 20+ years of no accidents/tickets and safe driver overall, or the type that gets into an accident every other year? Any other drivers on the policy?

None of us can answer this for you so you might want to talk to your broker about the min requirements and additional coverage you should have on top of that based on your needs

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

It’s theoretically limitless. How much do you think you’re worth? Get that amount of liability coverage.

It is not quite that simple, if you are married and your house it titled tenancy by entirety, the asset is protected. They can’t grab an IRA, 401(k), or put a lien on a pension or Social Security. For most people, that’s the vast majority of their net worth.