Understanding Florida Automobile Insurance Laws:

Florida is a "partial" no-fault state. The no-fault potion of your coverage pertains to bodily injuries, which means that in the event of an accident, each party is responsible for their own medical bills and other costs related to the injuries sustained in the accident. As a result, your abilities to sue the other party for damages are limited.

Florida automobile insurance laws also require all drivers to carry Property Damage Liability and Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage.

Property damage liability covers the damage you cause to another person's property. You must carry a minimum of $10,000 in coverage.

PIP covers your injury-related expenses, regardless of who was at fault in the accident. Covered benefits include some compensation for necessary medical expenses, lost wages, lost services, and funeral expenses. $10,000 worth of PIP is mandatory, although you may be able to increase your benefits by purchasing increased limits. Some drivers may choose to decrease their premiums by applying a deductible to their PIP coverage or by excluding the loss of wages benefit.

Florida auto insurance laws may also require that certain drivers carry Bodily Injury Liability. This coverage helps pay for the cost of injuries you cause to another in an auto accident. Drivers with previous accidents or violations may be required to carry this type of coverage.

Bodily injury liability coverage carries a minimum limit of 10/20; which means $10,000 per person for injuries you cause to the other party, up to $20,000 in total.) However, these are only minimums, and higher limits are recommended. Drivers who aren't required by law to purchase BIL are strongly urged to consider doing so for their own financial protection.

Florida auto insurance companies will also offer optional coverages such as collision, comprehensive, and uninsured and underinsured motorists coverage.

Basic Liability Coverage:

This is the single most important type of auto insurance coverage. Carrying too little auto accident liability can expose you to judgments and legal costs for years to come. Most states require something like 50/100/25 in liability coverage. That's up to $50,000 coverage for any single person injured by you in an auto accident, and up to $100,000 for everyone injured. Not a lot of money for medical bills, lost wages, and compensation for pain and suffering. You should probably carry more.

Additional auto insurance coverage (anything you get over the minimum) gets cheaper as you buy more. This means that your premium goes up a little while your protection goes up a lot.

Pay special attention to bodily injury liability. It's easy to imagine the cost of personal injuries (plus pain and suffering and lost wages) totalling a million dollars from a somewhat serious accident.

The standard (the average, not the minimum) auto liability policy is 100/300, where the 300 stands for $300,000 in total bodily injury liability.

But we would recommend that you take out at least $300,000-$500,000 worth of personal injury liability, even if that means less property damage coverage.

Why? Because property damage from an accident won't be nearly as expensive as injuries can be. So the $25,000 worth of property damage liability coverage in our example policy is probably adequate. (Of course, you can be on the safe side with a little more).

Liability Insurance:

This is probably the most important type of car insurance, and it's required by most state auto insurance laws. Liability car insurance protects you against the cost of damage and injury that you cause to another in an automobile accident.

It's actually made up of two different policies, bodily injury liability, and property damage liability. As you might guess, bodily injury insurance protects you from the cost of personal injury to others, and property damage insurance protects you from the cost of damage you cause to any physical property.

You've probably seen automobile policies described by three numbers (like 50/100/25). These numbers refer to auto liability insurance.

They're usually called the split limits of liability insurance. Under our example auto liability insurance policy, you'd be covered for up to:

· $50,000 worth of bodily injury caused to another person
· $100,000 for bodily injuries caused to everyone
· $25,000 worth of property damage.

Your state's car insurance laws will require a certain level auto liability insurance. You can find your state's auto insurance requirements here.

Even though it may be tempting to save a few bucks by going with the minimum liability required in your state, it is always worth investing in a little extra protection.

Medical Payments Insurance:

.

This policy provides for the immediate treatment of injuries caused by a car accident. You, your family members and other passengers in your vehicle are covered, regardless of who is at fault for the accident.
Depending on the specifics of the policy, medical payments coverage may also compensate for lost wages or services of a person injured in the car accident.

PIP, or personal injury protection, is similar to medical payments coverage, but usually provides broader coverage. Many PIP policies provide compensation for lost wages, funeral expenses, and pain and suffering.

Most states that require personals injury protection are "no fault" states, but Maryland, Delaware, and Oregon also do. You can find out your state's auto insurance laws and minimums here.

Save on Collision and Comprehensive:

.

The best way to save money on car insurance is to keep a high deductible on both of these policies.

A low deductible may seem to be worth the comfort of never having to fork over $500 or $1000 for car repairs before your insurance kicks in. But it usually isn't.

Consider that raising your deductible by as little as $250 can buy you a couple hundred thousand dollars more worth of liability coverage. Which will make you feel more secure? Paying even $1000 for repairs beats paying 100 times that for someone else's hospital bills!

And a lot drivers are paying for these types of coverage when they really shouldn't be. If you're driving an older car with a very low resale value, the cost of comprehensive and collision coverage's for a couple of years may be costing you more than the car is worth!

For cheaper car insurance, consider dropping these policies altogether, especially if you have a poor driving record that inflates your rates.These policies are not worthless. If you drive a new car, you need them. But you shouldn't carry them in place of reasonable levels of other types of coverage. See how low your premiums can be.

Underinsured and Uninsured Motorist Insurance:

.

Both of these types of insurance protect you against injury caused in an automobile accident where the at-fault driver's liability car insurance coverage is inadequate. Though they're often lumped together, they're really two distinct policies.

Uninsured motorist insurance is needed when the other driver has no liability coverage.

Underinsured motorist coverage pays for the cost of your injuries that exceed the other driver's coverage maximum.

Most states require neither type of coverage, but some require one or the other, and a few even require both. They're more often required in no fault states.

Automobile Insurance Endorsements:

.

Automobile insurance endorsement is just a fancy term for any of those policy extras like towing insurance, auto glass insurance, daily rental insurance, and emergency roadside insurance.

These policies are never required by any state, but many drivers value the security and convenience they provide.

Here's what you get for your money:

· auto towing insurance pays for (you guessed it) towing your car anytime you need it

· auto glass insurance gives you a lower deductible (or no deductible) when it comes to repairing any broken window on your car.

· daily rental insurance covers the cost of a rental car while your car is being repaired because of a covered event. (So you'll usually need both comprehensive and collision insurance to qualify.)

· emergency roadside assistance covers repairs done on the spot. Changing a flat roadside may be covered, but you'll have to pay for any repairs at the garage. This policy is often combined with auto towing coverage, and called roadside emergency towing insurance.

In some states, medical payments coverage and uninsured/ underinsured motorists coverages are voluntary coverages. In others, they're mandatory.