When is the last time you spoke with your automobile insurance agent? Do you know what your insurance coverages are? More importantly, do you know whether you have “enough” coverage? A nationally known insurance company encourages drivers to “only get what you need” when referring to automobile coverage. Be mindful of minimum coverage and the resulting potential consequences.
In West Virginia, automobile liability coverage is mandatory as is underinsured coverage. (Underinsured coverage is optional, not mandatory. Underinsured and Uninsured coverages will be discussed in a future blog post.). The minimum mandatory automobile liability policy in West Virginia must carry $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. This means if you are negligent and cause an accident, injuring the other driver, your liability coverage for that one injured person is capped at $25,000, and capped at $50,000 if more than one person is injured, regardless of how many people are injured in the same accident. Given the costs of medical care these days, it is not uncommon for even moderate impact motor vehicle accidents to result in injury that requires more than $25,000 in medical costs. You can imagine, then, that $25,000 in liability coverage is probably not enough….even if the law does not require more.
You should consider carrying at least $100,000/$300,000 liability coverage (and an equal amount of uninsured and underinsured coverage….as we ill discuss in a future blog post).
If you have questions regarding this issue, please give Dan McCune a call at (304) 748-3200.
About the Author
Daniel L. McCune, a Madonna graduate, earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a law degree from West Virginia University. He focuses on personal injury, nursing home injury, and automobile/truck accidents. Licensed in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, he has argued cases before the WV Supreme Court of Appeals and the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.