Is Liability Insurance Enough? 3 Scenarios That Are Worth Second-guessing

Nothing wakes us up quite like being involved in a car accident. The fear, the adrenaline, the rush—it’s a rollercoaster of emotions. After you’ve been involved in a collision, you’ll want to know that your car liability insurance is going to cover the damages. Only, there are instances in which the costs of your accident won’t be covered, and you’ll be left in the dust.

CoverHound can help to get you a car insurance plan you can count on, leave it to us!

Scenario #1: Spinning Out

On an early morning you decide you’re going to head to the grocery store to get the shopping out of the way. You’re driving along the highway when someone pulls up alongside you, gravel is pelting the side of your car and they come up to pass you. As they move into your lane you know they’re going to hit you, hard. You slam on the breaks and turn your wheel to avoid the collision. You’ve lost control and the nose of your car makes a sweeping left turn, turning the entire vehicle in a 360 motion. Your car lands on its side in a ditch. The other driver is nowhere in sight.

Will your car liability insurance cover the damages of the accident? The answer is no. Liability insurance does not cover single-vehicle accidents. If you had hit another vehicle, mailbox or pole, your insurance would have paid out property damages, but not to your vehicle.

Scenario #2: Vehicle Vandalism

You’re late to a business meeting and instead of searching for a spot in the parking garage, you decide to park out on the street closer to your office. You know your office isn’t in the safest of neighborhoods, but you drive an average car and don’t keep any valuable possessions in view, so you don’t think twice about parking it out on the street. After 5 p.m. rolls around, you walk out of the building to your car and notice a giant, obscene symbol keyed into the hood of your car. There is no way you can drive around town with this mark on your car, you have to get it fixed. Will your liability insurance policy cover the cost? No. A liability insurance plan does not pay for damages to your person or to your vehicle.

Scenario #3: Two-Vehicle Accident

You’re teaching your teen how to drive a stick shift on a quiet residential road. They’re doing a good job learning how to release the brake and press the clutch, but the car stalls on a blind corner. As you patiently try to teach your child about flooding the clutch, a tremendous force hits you from behind, moving your car 12 feet.

Personal injury ranks at number six in the Top-10 List of Most Stressful Life Events. When you have been in an auto collision, you won’t come out of it unscathed, no matter how minor the damage. In this case, you know you and your teen are going to need to make a hospital visit. As luck would have it, the driver that hit you is underinsured, and you’re going to have pay for the extent of the damages to your car. Let’s ask one more time: will liability insurance cover the property and medical costs? The answer once again is a firm no.

Liability insurance can only be used when you are the driver at fault in the accident. Even then, it only covers the property and medical costs of the other driver and their passengers, it does nothing to reimburse you and your property and medical costs.

All-in-all, liability insurance does not cover a whole lot, but can be sensible depending on your vehicle’s worth. To find an insurance package better aligned to your situation, browse our auto insurance policies today.