What You Need to Know When Getting Car Insurance
Researching and shopping around for car insurance can be a daunting task. When you go to get car insurance, one of the things you need to remember in Ohio is that full coverage means liability only.
Liability insurance is insurance that can be used to compensate someone else if you caused the accident. Right now the state minimum is $12,500 and soon it will increase to $25,000 per person.
However, that is still not enough money to really compensate you if you have serious injuries, especially if you are somebody who has incurred large medical bills or is without health insurance.
Full coverage may mean only liability coverage
Prior to October 31,2001 insurance companies that sold policies in Ohio had to offer liability coverage and uninsured/underinsured motorist (“UMIUIM”) coverage in every policy they sold. If a customer did not want the uninsured/underinsured coverage they had to sign a written waiver to have the policy issued without it.
This was state law. On October 31, 2001, as a result of Senate Bill 97, Ohio’s uninsured/underinsured motorist statute was changed to allow insurers to issue liability policies without uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. The insurer does not have to offer it, and the customer does not have to reject it.
What does this mean to you?
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage protects you in the event that you are hit by someone that has no insurance or insufficient insurance to fully compensate you. Since Ohio does a relatively poor job of enforcing its fmancial responsibility law, too many Ohioans are driving completely uninsured.
Make certain that you have this important coverage on all of your automobile and motorcycle policies and if you don’t – add it right away. The cost is minimal compared the to the liability premium and the additional protection is absolutely worth the cost.
What should I do/know when I buy auto insurance?
So when you go to buy your insurance, what you want to do is make sure that you talk to your agent and ask him or her questions about what the different types of coverage mean.
You do want liability and you do need it to be legal in Ohio, but you also want uninsured motorist coverage. This is insurance that is used to compensate you if you are in an injury caused by somebody else who does not have insurance or who does not have sufficient insurance.
Minimum amounts
There are minimum amounts that you can buy, like the $25,000 I mentioned. But what you want to do is to keep in mind that for not much more money, you can get a higher amount of insurance, something that will be more sufficient to compensate you if you do get in an accident and lose wages in medical bills and in pain and suffering.