A popular television commercial airs frequently in the Cincinnati area advertising state minimum car insurance quotes for limited budgets.
While it’s true that state minimum car insurance coverage may cost you less money than higher insurance limits, it could inadvertently cost you more money in out-of-pocket expenses in the event you are responsible for an accident in excess of state minimum limits.
For instance in the state of Ohio, state minimum limits as required by law amounts to $7,500 for property damage, and $12,500 individually for injuries that you may be legally responsible to pay.
In the state of Kentucky the state minimum limits are $10,000 for property damage, and $25,000 for injuries.
Let’s discuss a scenario to show you exactly how the property damage coverage works:
Let’s assume that you’re driving north out of downtown Cincinnati on the way to work and you rear end the vehicle in front of you. After all repair estimates are complete it appears the damage total is $4,700 for the other party’s vehicle.
If you carry Ohio state minimum insurance limits for property damage you have $7,500 to cover the property damage you are responsible for. In this scenario you have enough coverage to cover all property damage expenses.
Let’s play devil advocate for just a moment and assume that when you rear-ended the first vehicle that vehicle in turn was pushed into the vehicle in front of him because of the impact of your car. It’s possible that you could be held liable for the damage to both vehicles.
So the first vehicle’s damage amounts to only $4,700, however the damage to the other vehicle was $5,200 leaving total property damage total of $9,900. Subtracting the $7,500 property damage limit your insurance company pays leaves you with a balance of $2,400 that you owe.
Is state minimum limits enough for Cincinnati drivers? In the first scenario yes, in the second it ends up costing you $2,400 out of pocket. State minimum coverage limits may keep you legal, but may end up costing you more in the long run.
Please note that in multi-car accidents it may not be 100% certain that in every case the driver causing the multiple car accident is solely responsible other mitigating circumstances could apply.
If you have state minimum insurance limits click here to upgrade your coverage.
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