Auto insurance libaility limits

Reader question:

Say that a friend of mine is driving my vehicle. Is she covered by my auto insurance liability coverage? And what happens if my coverage uns out? Does her own kick in?

Maggie

Thank you for your question, Maggie.

Although the answer that I give you will not be absolute, it will apply to most situations. Laws are not the same in every state, and policies are not the same for every auto insurance company. The best way to know for sure before you find yourself in this kind of situation is first to either call your state department of insurance or go to their website online to look up the information you need, and second to call your auto insurance company and ask them what happens when the limit of your auto insurance liability runs out.

I can tell you what they will say for the vast majority of the time. Normally, they will tell you that the first type of auto insurance policy that kicks in when someone who is not named on the policy, but able to be covered by the extended coverage provision of your policy, gets into a car accident and must file a claim, is the insurance that is attached to the car. That’s yours, if you weren’t following so well. Then, if that insurance happens to run out, before the other injured party can come after you for the amount that they are lacking, first the insurance that belongs to the driver will kick in.

Of course, this only works if the driver has insurance in the first place, which is something that you need to watch out for. If your auto insurance liability limits run out and the driver of your car does not have an auto insurance policy, then who do you think will have a suit filed against them? That’s right. You will. Be careful of who you let drive your vehicle.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.