Ohio and most other states require that all drivers carry bodily insurance liability coverage. Typically this is part of a combination of property damage coverage, and personal injury or bodily injury liability coverage, often called “minimal coverage.” minimal coverage isn’t a bad thing, but most drivers don’t really understand what exactly bodily insurance covers. They know they have to have it; the majority of drivers do have at least minimum coverage.
Bodily injury liability does cover more than what most people initially believe. It’s even possible that it might cover legal fees. However, bodily injury liability doesn’t cover your damages. The idea is that having a minimum coverage is enough to cover damages if something were to happen to you is incorrect. Minimum coverage will never cover your damages. Instead, it covers damages that you are liable for causing. In effect, minimum coverage will cover the damages for an accident that you caused. You should contact our Cincinnati car accident attorneys for more information.
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Personal Injury Insurance
Bodily injury or personal injury liability covers medical expenses for services pertaining to injuries sustained in the crash. However, it should also cover lost wages, income, and legal fees. If you were taken to court by the other person, and that person was injured in a wreck, then you might be worried about being stuck with a ton of legal fees. Even if you have minimum coverage, you should expect that coverage to handle your legal fees.
One of the great things the car insurance system brought us is that these major companies, the major car insurance providers, will usually handle the legal fees. Having car insurance, even minimum car insurance, can save you from tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees if you were sued for an accident.
Why Do You Need Liability Insurance?
Everyone needs liability insurance, not only because it is required by the state, but also because it offers you a level of protection. Liability insurance only provides compensation to the injured person if they were less than 51% responsible for the crash. Additionally, your liability insurance will never payout to you directly. However, there are instances where liability insurance is the protection you need to not be personally sued by someone who was injured in a wreck.
Being personally sued means that someone could go directly after your assets, including your home, vehicles, and even a business if your assets aren’t separated legally. For many people, just avoiding these issues can make having liability insurance worth it.
Do You Have Enough?
Most people do not have enough liability insurance. Minimum coverage in Ohio includes $25,000 per injured person, for up to two people. $25,000 seems like a lot, except most people who end up in the hospital go far beyond that expense. The average inpatient stay in a hospital is five days, and that can easily cost $10,000 just for day-to-day needs. That $10,000 does not include ambulance fees, surgery costs, procedures, or follow-up care.
People are so scared of getting sued for a car accident because of how quickly those damages can jump into the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. $25,000 to cover one injured person might not be enough if you had a serious crash.
How Do You Use It When You Need It?
The good news about liability coverage is that you don’t actually have to do anything other than make your payments on time. If someone filed an auto claim against you, they would obtain all the information necessary to do that when you exchanged information at the crash scene or filed your police report. The injured person will contact your insurance provider.
What Happens If You Weren’t At Fault? Call A Cincy Car Accident Attorney
If you weren’t at fault for a crash, you might be more worried now knowing that your insurance provider won’t pay anything out to you. However, the other driver’s bodily insurance liability is where you will go for some compensation. You may have additional coverage of such as Collision coverage or uninsured motorist coverage that can help with areas of compensation you couldn’t achieve through the at-fault driver’s insurance provider.
Our first step in handling your Cincinnati car accident case is to bring in a skilled Ohio auto collision attorney. After we have the right attorney handling your case, we’ll look at what compensation you should expect from the at-fault driver, and what options do you have if that driver was uninsured or underinsured. Bodily injury liability insurance is something that every driver should have, and as a victim, it’s something you should have access to for compensation. Contact us directly at the Young, Reverman & Bolotin law offices right here in Cincinnati.