Auto Insurance Coverage Choices Minnesota

Auto insurance will never qualify as “easy to understand” and that increases the chances you could make a costly mistake. I hope you know that your auto insurance actually provides seven primary types of coverage in Minnesota: three are mandatory and two are optional. Everybody is required to have Bodily Injury Liability, which provides coverage if you or anyone else is injured, and Property Liability Coverage, in case you damage another car or piece of property, uninsured motorist and underinsured insurance, which protects people injured in accidents caused by uninsured and underinsured motorists and Personal Injury Protection (Minnesota No Fault). Collision Insurance is an important option for more expensive cars, since it provides coverage no matter who is at fault, as is Comprehensive Coverage, which covers repairs if your car gets damaged in a non-collision related mishap. Stuff like a tree limb falling on the hood, or a run-in with a deer. A minimum amount of mandatory liability coverage in Minnesota is often expressed as 30/60/10. This means you have $30,000 worth of bodily injury coverage for each person, with a $60,000 limit per accident, and $10,000 in coverage for property damage. My advice is to not scrimp on this coverage. That may satisfy your Minnesota’s minimum requirements, but you should definitely think about a policy that provides at least 100/300/100, and higher limits with and umbrella policy would be the best option. What you want to avoid is having someone sue you and come after your personal assets – such as your home or future income – to settle an insurance claim. That’s putting all your finances at risk to avoid paying a more expensive premium. For about $200 a year or so, you get $1 million in protection Umbrella Policy; that’s a nice bit of protection if you were to ever be sued. If you are buying an expensive car, I recommend Replacement Cost Coverage and or Loan/Lease Gap Coverage. Typical coverage only pays you the depreciated value of your car, not what it will cost you to go out and buy the same car again. Since cars start depreciating the moment the two front wheels leave the dealer lot, you might want to fork over the bucks to make sure that at least for the first few years you own your car you won’t be caught short if it gets totaled.