Why You Need Auto Insurance To Protect Yourself

You have worked very hard for the car or cars you have as well as all of your other personal possessions that you place value on. Having adequate auto insurance can protect more than just your cars; it can help protect all of your possessions.Auto insurance is more than just coverage for your automobiles or RV or motorcycle. Insurance can help insulate you from having your personal assets put at risk should you be involved in an accident and are determined to be at fault. Understanding that all states have different liability or fault laws and different minimum liability coverage requirements, it is important to know that in all states, if you are in an accident and found to be at fault, you are personally responsible for those damages.Insurance is a way of minimizing that responsibility or exposure for damages you may cause and determined to be responsible for. When you purchase a policy, you select the coverage amounts you want or need. In many cases the lien holder on your vehicle may dictate the amount of coverage you need, if you have one. However, there is something else to consider and ask yourself: what is the value of my personal assets? The reason for that question is this: although your insurance company has a duty to defend you within the policy limits or coverage's you have purchased, a claimant or the person that you caused damage and potentially injury to, can attempt to come after you personally if they feel the limits of your policy are not adequate for their property damages and/or injuries.An example may help demonstrate this better: You have a current insurance policy with the following limits: property damage $15,000 and bodily injury $15,000/$30,000. the bodily injury limits mean that there is up to $25,000 in coverage available for any single person injured and up to a total of $30,000 total for all injured parties. Lets say, for demonstration, there were 3 people in the vehicle in which the injured parties were in and you were found to be at fault. The driver was injured badly, sustaining a broken hip, lacerations to the face and a broken arm. The other 2 passengers in the vehicle sustained soft tissue injuries to their backs and some cuts to their faces from broken glass. From my experience as a claims adjuster and manager, this claim will be valued over the policy limits of $30,000 for all injured parties.Remembering that your insurance company has a duty to protect you and resolve this claim within the limits of your policy. If the injured parties have an attorney, the attorney will do his/her due diligence to determine if you have any personal assets of value or are a high net worth individual. If you are, the attorney may decide to pursue both your policy limits and then come after your personal assets. And yes, this does happen and you and your assets could be at risk.The example above and potential for that to be a real-life one in terms of your personal assets being at risk and having adequate insurance coverage can be mitigated. How? By taking care in understanding your personal financial position and then ensuring you are adequately covered for more than just your vehicle. It is worth your time to pull out your Declarations page that shows what your current coverage limits are and then, if, after really looking at what you have on the line, you feel you may not be adequately insured, use an unbiased, consumer focused site which will allow you to get free auto insurance quotes for the amount of coverage you need to feel that you are adequately covered.