So, I don’t own a car. Do I still need coverage?
When you own a car and carry car insurance protection, the policy typically has two very important sections of coverage. The first is liability and physical damage. Liability protects you in the event you are sued by others for injuring them or damaging their property. Physical damage is also known as collision and other than collision and these protect the car in case you damage it. These coverages follow the car. If you are driving, you are protected. If you loan the car, you are still protected for what others might do. Hit a parked car and the liability pays for the damage to the car you hit and collision pays to fix your car. If you loan your car and the other driver strikes a parked car, the same claim settlement occurs. (If you have loaned the car, the other person’s insurance does not get involved.)
The second area of protection follows you. This includes the coverage for medical bills related to car accidents and Uninsured, UM, and Underinsured Motorist, UIM, coverage. Pennsylvania is a “No-fault State.” This means that regardless of who is at fault for an accident, you are responsible for your medical bills. You must have the first $5,000 under your car insurance and can buy coverage up to $1.1 million. Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist protection provides coverage for you if you are seriously injured by someone else who has no coverage, uninsured, or insufficient coverage, underinsured.
If you don’t own a car, you probably don’t need liability coverage or physical damage coverage. But if you EVER ride in a car belonging to your children, the neighbor, a fellow church member, Uber or Lyft, you have the potential exposure of being injured and needing the medical coverage, or needing the uninsured and underinsured if you are seriously injured.
Remember, I started by saying you need to weigh the risk of exposure against the cost of coverage. Fortunately, the insurance industry has a policy designed to protect people who don’t own cars but still have the medical and UM/UIM exposure. Believe it or not, it is called “Non-owned Auto Coverage.” On average, it costs about $150-$175 for $500,000 of UM/UIM and the maximum medical. (This can vary based on locations and drivers).
Want to learn more about this important protection? Contact your insurance professional. Don’t have an insurance professional? Please call us at 610-933-4950.