Hello this is your Plymouth insurance agent, EnviZion Insurance, and today we will be going over the basics of auto insurance, and some things to know about the coverage that you need and are required to have in Minnesota. When it comes to Minnesota Law for liability coverage, the required limits of liability are $30,000 of coverage per person, $60,000 of coverage total per accident and $10,000 for property damage. These are the state minimums which you are required to carry at those minimal values, but we suggested that increase those coverage. What we suggests for all our clients as a baseline is $100,000 of coverage per person. $300,000 of coverage per accident and $100,000 of property damage coverage. The reason for this is with the health costs expenses that we see in today’s market, $30,000 is just not enough if someone is to break their arm or sprain their wrist or something like that and go in, need to get testing done. with x-rays and a cast on and those things, you’re going to reach the minimum of $30,000 for that person extremely fast. And also say there are three people in that vehicle, the $60,000 total per accident limit, which is the state minimum, is going to be reached very quickly. Also, the $10,000 limit for property damage, which is the minimum required, is really not sufficient either. If you really want to have protection, that’s going to put you in a good place financially. Say you back into a telephone pole and crack it, you’re going to reach that $10,000 limit right away because you have to replace the telephone pole. If you go through the side of the building on accident and break some glass or whatever it may be, that $10,000 is not going to take you very far. And so that’s why having the extra coverage that we suggest at $1000,000, $300,000, $100,000 is really smart because insurance is there to protect you financially and bumping those up is not going to be a make or break budget decision for you. However, if you are to get into an accident and there are some, damages made to property large liabilities that come up because of it, you will exhaust your state minimums extremely fast and then the rest is on you. As an insurance agency and as your Plymouth insurance agent, EnviZion Insurance feels it is important, from a financial standpoint, to have these increased coverage’s amounts in place to property protect you.
As your Plymouth insurance agent the next important thing I think you need to understand is that it is required by Minnesota law to have under-insured and uninsured protection on your auto policy. The minimum limits are $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident total. Under-insured, covers you if someone has a policy, and for example, they just have the state minimum policy of $30,000, but you have $45,000 worth of bills, your insurance would then kick in for the under- insured portion and pay that extra $15,000. Uninsured coverage generally comes up in two types of situations. The first one is when you are involved in an accident with someone’s driving without insurance, which is illegal in Minnesota, When someone who is does not have insurance get an accident with you what will happen is your insurance will then cover the costs that the other person’s insurance would have been required to cover. The second situation where uninsured protection would come into play is if there’s a hit and run situation. So someone you’re involved with an accident with, flees the scene or hits your car and drives away. This is another time where uninsured covered will come into play because that person’s policy should be paying, but they have left the accident scene you don’t know their insurance. Once again your insurance will cover whatever expenses arise out of that accident, even if that person is no longer at the scene and there’s no insurance from that person to cover your bills. So that’s underinsured and uninsured protection. The last section that we as your Plymouth insurance agent want to show you that is required by Minnesota law is personal injury protection which is also known as PIP coverage. And what this covers is any medical expenses that rise out of an auto accident, regardless of who’s at fault. This will pay for things, you know, such as, uh, like I said, medical expenses, but also things such as lost wages, and different things like that and Minnesota requires a minimum limit of $20,000 for medical expenses and $20,000 for lost wages for personal injury protection (PIP). This coverage allows you to use your insurance right away to cover any medical expenses and cover any lost wages. And then behind the scenes, if there was fault of another person, your insurance company, will go through a legal process to get reimbursed from the insurance company of the responsible other party for the damages or medical expenses that someone else was at fault for. These are the Minnesota state required liability coverage for auto insurance., explained by your Plymouth insurance agent at EnviZion Insurance.
Now , being your Plymouth insurance agent, we are going to go over the difference between liability only coverage and full coverage for your auto insurance. Liability only coverage is when you have just have coverage for the damage and medical expense you cause to others that you are involved in an accident with, but it does not cover anything involving your vehicle damage. So you will not be reimbursed or have any coverage to repair your own vehicle. Your liability only policy will only pay to protect the person that you cause damage to, and not your own vehicle. Normally we suggest liability only for vehicles that are 10 years old and older. Full coverage adds both collision coverage and comprehensive coverage to your policy to protect your vehicle and costs. Collision coverage is anything hit regardless of fault. Comprehensive coverage is anything that damages your vehicle while it’s not moving such as hail, falling objects, fires, theft, glass breakage. For collision and comprehensive coverage, you’ll see a separate deductible for each, which is usually either $500 for a standard vehicle and usually $1000 for newer vehicles for each. In addition, with full coverage on top of the collision and comprehensive coverage, there are other options such as towing, glass breakage, which removes the deductible for any safety glass that’s broken on the vehicle. And the last one that you usually see rental coverage, which is for when your vehicle is in the shop because of an accident or some sort of claim and you need a vehicle to drive. Some repairs shops offer a rental vehicle, however if they don’t, you can get a rental car paid for through your insurance. Generally your insurance will pay something like $30 per day with a total limit of $600. Normally you see one to two weeks for repairs in a shop. So your insurance would pay for a rental car for you to use until the repairs on your vehicle are done. Your Plymouth insurance agent, EnviZion insurance suggests full coverage on vehicles that are less than 10 years old. To recap, you’re going to have a choice of either a liability only policy that only covers the other person involved in the accident. Or you can choose full coverage which adds coverage damages to your car through collision and comprehensive coverage. On top of that with full coverage you can add on things such as towing, removing the deductible for glass breakage and adding a rental car protection for when your car’s in the shop after an accident. Contact EnviZion Insurance, your Plymouth insurance agent, to find out more detail about everything that is covered here!