Public Service Announcement. Check your insurance limits.

[lex137]

This is good post to help our members. I think my auto coverage is high, still have full coverage on my 98 POS! Need to look closer at the home owners insurance though?

[Sawin]

Back to the OP topic: Auto insurance liability.

Very good topic of discussion Irving. I take it from your comments you are an insurance agent and help folks manage the outcome of their traffic accidents?

I am not proud to admit it, but I have been with Progressive since I was in college, long before I knew anything about their liberal ways and actually before my own conservative ones were truly engrained.... I'm what they call an "Emerald" member, after graduating from Diamond last fall... whatever that means. I have what I think is a very good rate on 2 vehicles, but only hold a 50K property damage liability on each accident. Bodily injury is 50k per person, 100k total per accident.

In your experience, what is the worst scenario that you have actually seen occur to someone holding 50k property liability? I know we can theorize all sorts of bad situations, I'm just wondering what you have personally encountered on the job so far.

[stodg73]

I have full coverage on all my vehicles, plus a rider for hospitalization of $200 per visit to the ER and $1000 per day for ICU.

[kwando]

Thanks for posting, even before i was with allstate, i've always had 100/300/100. Is it possible to have too much coverage?

[osok-308]

My father-in-law is an insurance agent, so I've definitely heard this before, but it's a good bit of advice that should be followed.

[sniper7]

Thanks for posting, even before i was with allstate, i've always had 100/300/100. Is it possible to have too much coverage?

Yep, too much life insurance and the wrong person as your benefactor!!!!

[HoneyBadger]

That's great advice, but I'm not as well versed in that area. A lot of specific contents categories like Jewelry, guns, tools, etc top out at $2,000 unless a special rider is purchased. I've been hearing that a lot of people are underinsured on their contents coverage lately. This puts you in a pretty tough position if you have a total loss, or even just a large loss from a fire. Contents are tough because you don't really have a list of all the things you own. Just take a moment and try to make a quick mental list of every single item you have in the smallest room in your house. Now do that for your entire house. Oh you had a TV? What size? What brand? What model? A lot of us might know that info for their favorite stuff like the big TV, or the computer, but what about the microwave and the toaster? Heck I can't tell you a single brand of any appliance I even have, even the ones I've installed myself. It seems hokey, but it's not a bad idea to do a quick video inventory walk through of your house occasionally. I've never done that before, but it is so simple to do, I really have no excuse for not having done so.

Something I started doing last year after I saw several friends and co-workers lose their homes in the Black Forest fire: digitally document EVERYTHING. Take a few hours to make or acquire digital copies of all your important documents: driver's license, passports, social security cards, birth certificates, marriage certificate, other important IDs or documentation, etc. You can even go as far as to scan all your big ticket receipts so you have records of all of it for insurance. Then walk around your house with a digital camera and open every single drawer and cabinet and take a picture of EVERYTHING you own, including as much detail as possible, even serial numbers or product numbers if applicable. Go buy a couple of 32GB SD cards (or however big you need) and put it all on one SD card, then make a backup. Encrypt them and give the backup to a trusted family member or good friend to keep in their safe.

[TFOGGER]

37k was for the first hour....I spend 11 days in the hospital... final bill will be close to 250k when I am done with PT. Totally my fault for not checking / understanding medical coverage limit on my Car Insurance and having to rely on my healthcare coverage.

Yeah, most of that came from my health insurance as well, first 5K was from med pay on the bike insurance(basically covered loading me into the ambulance, but not the trip to the hospital). How's your recovery coming along? I'm about 95% after a year and 3 months, dunno if my shoulder will ever be right.

[SSChameleon]

Stu, that's some good advice. Full Disclosure, I'm an insurance agent. From my experience I can say anyone who has state minimum coverage and thinks that's ok is like the FUD who has carries a Jimenez arms for self defense.

Liability is relatively cheap. If you really are not sure about your coverage find an agent who has been in the industry for a few years (this is a mass hire/mass fire industry, the weak and stupid wash out in the first three years) and have a review. If you think the guy (or gal) is trying to sell you a bunch of coverage you don't need, get a second opinion.

Last year I had a family with 16 year old girl who ran a stop sign and flipped an SUV with a 72 year old couple in it. We paid the policy limits for them. I had another client who was T-boned by someone texting through a stop light and woke up in Littleton Adventist after 20 days in a medically induced coma. The girl who hit him had state minimums and he went after the parents.

If you are on a budget, raise you deductible. It's far easier to write a $500 check for the higher deductible than the $50,000 check to an attorney or guy you hit.

[SSChameleon]

Also, great advice Honey Badger on taking photos of everything. After handling several theft claims I can say the best thing you can do is take a photo with your cell phone of every serial number TV, Computer, IPAD, and Guns (The NSA probably has the serial number for them, but they wont give them out after a loss) then email the photos to a yahoo or Gmail account. This will make the claims process faster, and it gives the Cops a chance to catch the bad guys. Without serial numbers, the cops really have no way to ever find your stuff.