The minimum auto insurance that the state of Mississippi requires is a 25/50/25 liability-only policy. What this means is that your policy will pay a maximum of $25,000 in medical bills for any one individual who is injured as a result of an accident with your vehicle, with a maximum of $50,000 in medical payments for all people involved in the accident, regardless of how many people are involved and regardless of the extent of their injuries. Additionally, your minimum liability policy will pay a maximum of $25,000 for the repair or replacement of the other party's property (typically their vehicle).
In a serious accident a minimum liability policy may not cover all medical costs or all property damage related to an accident. In that case you may be held personally responsible for any unpaid amounts, which could, potentially, put your home or your savings account or any other assets you have at risk.
For this reason many people who purchase just liability insurance will purchase a policy with higher limits - at a higher monthly premium cost, naturally.
Liability insurance alone pays nothing, however, toward the repair or replacement of your vehicle and may not pay medical bills for you or anyone in your vehicle, particularly if you are deemed to be at fault in the accident.
If you want to be fully protected then you will need to purchase a full coverage automobile insurance policy. To get full coverage you will need to purchase a liability policy plus a collision policy plus a comprehensive policy plus a personal injury protection policy plus uninsured motorist coverage. Each type of policy protects you from something different.
Your collision policy protects your vehicle if you strike another vehicle or if you run into a tree or a lamppost or some other stationary object.
Your comprehensive policy pays for the repair or in some cases the replacement of your vehicle if it is stolen or if it is vandalized or if it is damaged by natural causes such as wind or flooding or fire. Your comprehensive insurance is the one that pays for the repair of your vehicle if you run into a deer or other large animal.
Keep in mind that in most cases your collision or comprehensive insurance will not pay any more than the current Kelly Blue Book value of your vehicle - not the replacement cost.
Your personal injury protection insurance pays your medical bills and the medical bills of anyone in your vehicle at the time of an accident, regardless of who is at fault in the accident.
Uninsured motorist protection pays for the repair of your vehicle and for medical costs for you or anyone in your vehicle if you have an accident with a motorist who does not have insurance.
If your vehicle is being financed your lender will require that you purchase full coverage auto insurance, but even if you aren't dealing with a lender you still may choose full coverage automobile insurance simply for the peace of mind it provides - not to mention the asset protection.
Whether you are buying basic liability insurance or a full coverage policy, you are likely to find the best deal through one or more of the online auto insurance price comparison websites.
New Jersey, like almost every state in the Union, requires that its drivers purchase automobile insurance before they can take a vehicle onto any public roadway in the state. Anyone caught driving in New Jersey without insurance faces severe penalties as well as fines that can run into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
New Jersey requires its drivers to purchase far less insurance than many other states require of their drivers. In New Jersey the minimum insurance that any driver must purchase in order to legally drive is what is known as 15/30/5 plan, plus they are required to purchase Uninsured Motorist protection.
What this means is, a driver must purchase a Personal Injury Protection policy (known as a PIP Policy) that, at a minimum, provides $15,000 of medical protection for any individual in an accident with a maximum medical cap of $30,000 per accident, plus a driver must purchase a minimum of $5,000 in Liability (property) insurance that will repair or replace any vehicle or other property damaged in an accident. In addition, each driver must purchase Uninsured Motorist coverage in the same amounts in the event that you should become involved in an accident with a motorist who does not have insurance or who has insufficient insurance to pay for the damages of an accident.
As you might imagine, the state minimum amount of required insurance may not be sufficient in today's world where almost any medical treatment can cost upwards of $15,000 and where even a small amount of body work can cost well over $5,000. In fact, if you purchase a new car and have it financed, your lender will require that you carry far more than the state minimum requirements for insurance.
If you are interested in full insurance coverage then in addition to Liability, Personal Injury Protection and Uninsured Motorist you will also need to purchase comprehensive insurance and collision insurance. Collision insurance covers the repair or replacement of your vehicle in the event of an accident, and comprehensive insurance covers your vehicle for natural calamities, such as a falling tree branch, a hail storm, or vandalism. Comprehensive is also the insurance that will pay for the repair of your vehicle if you should strike an animal, such as a deer.
Many people, especially drivers who own a home or who have a significant amount in life savings or who own other assets carry considerably more than the state-mandated minimum coverage in automobile insurance as a safeguard against an accident-related lawsuit.
Now that you know what to look for in a full coverage automobile insurance quote in New Jersey it's time to think about ways to get that insurance at the best price possible. Fortunately there are dozens of websites which make that task relatively easy by automatically comparing the prices of an automobile insurance policy at several different insurance companies.
If you are sincere in your desire to find the cheapest full coverage automobile insurance then you will need to take the time to review the price quotes that you get from a minimum of 3 different websites.
Once you have done that the rest is simple - just choose the lowest-priced quote and you will not only know what to look for in a full coverage automobile insurance quote in New Jersey, but you'll know just how to get the best price for it as well.