In short, car insurance is essential in a modern society. Think about it, every time you drive your car there is a slim chance you could damage someone else’s property or even worse—hurt someone. If we didn’t have car insurance, how would damaged property be repaired? How would medical bills be paid if someone was hurt? Without insurance, people would get very emotional and most likely would behave irrationally. That’s only a logical response—wouldn’t you be upset if someone damaged your property or hurt you and had no way to make you whole again? This is why car owners are required to purchase auto liability insurance.
Mississippi requires drivers to carry a minimum liability limit of $25,000 bodily injury for any one person with $50,000 being the most they pay in total for all bodily injury. Mississippi also requires drivers to carry $25,000 for any property damage caused. Most people don’t realize it, but liability insurance is the least expensive portion of an auto insurance policy. Now that you know it’s inexpensive, consider the extravagant cost of medical care. If you have hurt someone in a car accident and you carry the minimum limits, you may still be on the hook for the additional costs. Twenty Five Thousand sounds like a lot of money when you say it out loud, but the ambulance ride and one night in the hospital will quickly eat it away. When looking for an insurance plan, you should really try to carry the highest limits of liability that you can. There are many options available for auto liability insurance. You can have a split limit or a combined single limit. The split limit divides liability coverage per person, caps it at a total limit for bodily injury, and gives a separate limit for property damage. Mississippi’s state minimum is a split limit-- $25,000 bodily injury per person with $50,000 being the most they will pay for all bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage. The combined single limit is a little different. It is one big limit that has no cap on bodily injury per person or a cap on property damage. However, the policy will only pay up to the chosen combined single limit for injuries and property damage to others.
The other reason you buy car insurance is to protect your financial interest in your own vehicle. For most people, cars are one of the most important assets and the loss of a car would be detrimental. Car insurance can be crafted to pay for the loss of your vehicle. In the event of a loss, the car insurance policy pays you the value of your vehicle at the time of the loss less the deductible. What is a loss? Most companies pay for losses resulting from multi or single car accidents, falling objects, flood, fire, collision, theft, glass breakage, hitting animals, and vandalism. There are also coverage options available to get roadside assistance and rental car reimbursement. This portion of the policy usually carries the most expense. It is important to understand how your deductible works and how it affects the price. The deductibles and price have an inverse relationship. A higher deductible will be less expensive but will pay you less when you have a loss. A lower deductible will be more expensive but will pay you more when you have a loss. Most companies offer many deductible combinations to help control the price.
At Hennessey, Thames and Leavitt we are experts in car insurance. Give our office in Vicksburg a call and become educated in auto insurance. Hennessey, Thames & Leavitt represents many top rated car insurance companies. Call our office at 601-636-5560 and talk to a car insurance expert today.
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