I've seen a bunch of posts about coverage limits—and the associated problems when they aren't sufficient—and there seem to be a lot of knowledgable people in this sub. So I just wanted to a quick check to see if said knowledgeable people think I'm being wise about auto coverage limits. I guess having kids has made me read the policies much closer than I used to ;).
Both myself and my wife are insured on the same policy with USAA. We drive 2016 Mazdas that are both paid off. Looking at our policy just now, our coverages are:
Other Than Collision: $500 deductible per occurrence
Collision: $500 deductible per occurrence
Bodily Injury Liability: $ 100,000/300,000 (per person/per accident)
Property Damage Liability: $ 100,000 per accident
Combined Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists Bodily Injury: $100,000/300,000
Medical Payments: $ 5,000
Right now we pay $1033.68/6 months for both cars/drivers. This seems fairly reasonable to me, but I haven't really shopped around.
Do these coverages seem prudent/sufficient? Is there anywhere that I'm particularly vulnerable or taking unnecessary risk? Thanks for any input.
Opinion: Am I adequately covered (auto insurance)?
byu/rem179 inInsurance
Posted by rem179
2 Comments
You should shop around just to make sure, since we have no idea if your pricing is fair for your particular situation or not – on the face of it; ~$100/mo/car seems very very cheap for the coverages you have.
You have pretty good coverage; probably better than 95% of the people out there. The only suggestion I would have is to get a quote for a $1m umbrella and to see if that umbrella can go over UM/UIM especially as you have kids.
You also appear to be missing coverage for rental reimbursement which can stack up in case of a claim.
If the price becomes an issue you can see what the premium discount is for increasing your comp/collision deductibles to $1,000.
Our general rule of thumb is that insurance should be reserved for liability reasons and catastrophic claims; hence the suggestion to just see what a $1m umbrella will look like. Note that your health insurance only covers medical costs; whereas uninsured/underinsured may cover loss of wages, pain and suffering which can far outstrip medical costs.
You liability coverage should protect your assets. Add up your assets, savings, investments, personal property, your home, your vehicles, your future earnings. More than 100K? If so, worst case scenario, you lose it all.