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Are you wondering what liability limits you should carry on your Arizona auto insurance policy? You probably don't want to hear this, but you really can't have to much liability in my opinion. The State of Arizona insurance requirements for auto liability are that you carry $15,000 per person for bodily injury, $30,000 per accident for bodily injury and $10,000 for property damage. What does that all mean? It means if you carry these limits on your auto policy and you cause bodily injury with your automobile to another person(s), the most your policy will pay for any one persons bodily injury (or death) is $15,000. If you hit another car with several people in it and carry these limits, the maximum amount your policy would pay is $30,000 total for all people in the car. Now, you know as well as I, medical care is expensive. A one night stay in the hospital can be $15,000 alone depending on treatment. Let's say you hit a car with 3 people in it. Two of the people walk away with no injuries but one of them is severely hurt and is taken to the hospital and stays there for a week. That persons total bill is $100,000. They file a claim against your auto insurance carrier and you carry the state minimum limits of $15,000/$30,000/$10,000. Your policy will max out at $15,000 of the $100,000 total (remember it is $15,000 for any one person) leaving a balance of $85,000 to be paid. Who pays the $85,000 balance, well, you do. You might have your wages garnished until the medical bills are paid for. Oh and I didn't mention that you totaled their $50,000 BMW they were driving. Your policy maxes out at $10,000 for property damage, leaving you with the balance of $40,000 to pay out of pocket.
I personally feel the state minimum auto insurance requirements should be raised. I think Arizona has some of the lowest minimums in the country. So what can you do to protect yourself from the scenario above. Easy, you can increase the liability limits on your auto policy to $250,000/$500,000/$250,000 for literally the cost of dinner and the movies. Honestly, you can get 16 times the amount of coverage for the cost of dinner and the movies per vehicle on your policy per month. With limits like this, you would have $250,000 for bodily injury per person, $500,000 for bodily injury per accident and $250,000 for property damage. In the scenario above if you had these limits, all the damage would be taken care of by your insurance company and you would not have any balance to pay out of pocket. Further, you can get a $1,000,000 liability umbrella on top of that for about $200 per year, giving you extra protection.
For more information or a quote on insurance for auto, home, umbrella, business, life or health insurance, call Insurance Professionals of Arizona at 480-981-6338. We will make sure you are covered properly and we will make sure we get you the best price we can find for you. Visit us online for a FREE QUOTE.