Thinking about shopping your car insurance, but want to make sure you have adequate coverage?
Our agency has helped thousands of clients save, and upgrade their coverage for the better part of a decade.
By the end of this post, you’ll be telling your agent what coverage you’d like on your policy.
Let’s get into it!
Quick Comparison
State Requirements
- Bodily Injury Liability $25,000/$50,000
- Property Damage Liability $25,000
Our Recommendation
- Bodily Injury Liability $100,000/$300,000
- Property Damage Liability $100,000
- Uninsured Motorist BI $50,000/$100,000
- Uninsured Motorist PD: $50,000
- Medical Payments: $1,000
- Comprehensive: $500 Deductible
- Collision: $500 Deductible
- Full Glass Endorsement
- Emergency Road Service
- Rental Reimbursement $50 per day
State vs. Agency Recommendation
State Requirements
Your car insurance requirements will vary from state to state.
Here in the state of Georgia, all vehicles that are registered must have valid insurance with a bodily injury liability limit of $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and property damage liability limit of $25,000.
“Minimum” is not a good term for a policy that may end up defending you in court. I always like to remind my clients:
In Georgia, you can verify these limits at the Commissioner of Insurance & Fire Safety’s website by clicking here
Again, having the minimum required is NOT in your best interest for a number of reasons.
Average personal injury settlements are increasing, percentage of uninsured/under-insured drivers has been increasing year over year, and of course average new vehicle pricing has increased drastically, since the pandemic.
Look, we’re consumers too. We have car insurance just like everyone else.
So I totally get it when you’ve only got so much left in the budget, and then some insurance agent is trying to tell you to pay more, when you can clearly pay less.
I’m just saying, if there’s room within the budget, your coverage limits are vitally important and you should treat them as such.
Our Agency Recommendation
Now of course, we’re completely transparent with all of our clients.
We’ll tell you what’s required, what we recommend, and why.
Its up to you to make the best decision for yourself.
And it’s important to note, these coverages are not a “one size fits all” kind of deal.
You should always speak with a licensed agent and have them do a full needs analysis before taking a policy.
This coverage is more of a starting point for new customers that we know very little about.
Questions your Agent Should be Asking
I’ve said it so many times – Find a trustworthy agent and build a relationship with them – then you’ll never need to worry about questioning their recommendations.
To be completely safe, you should ask yourself these questions and provide the answers to the agent you’re shopping with:
- Do you drive for a ride-sharing company? (Uber, Lyft, etc)
- Are you using your vehicle to make money for a business?
- What’s your average annual mileage?
- Does your vehicle have any existing damage that hasn’t been fixed yet?
- Has there been any custom work done to the vehicle?
- Do you park your vehicle anywhere except for the address you gave the agent?
- Does anyone else live at your address?
The reason you’ll want to disclose these details, is because they concern your eligibility.
You see, you don’t want to trick or mislead an insurance company to offer you car insurance.
In fact, they can cancel or rescind (cancel as if it never existed back to inception) your policy for almost any reason.
When an insurance company finds details that were not disclosed, it’s called Misrepresentation of the contract. This can include information that the agent forgot to ask you.
At the end of the day, you’re the policy owner and the insurance company can hold you responsible. I’ve seen many agents not ask eligibility questions, and sure, most of the time – the carrier will never know.
…until you file a claim, the adjuster starts snooping through your case, and these details end up coming to light anyways.
Which (you probably guessed it) can result in a denied claim. It’s not worth it, I promise.
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