It's possible ? especially if you have a good driving record ? to get away with purchasing just $10,000 of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and $10,000 of Property Damage Liability (PDL) insurance and legally drive in the state of Florida. If you've been in a crash or if you've been convicted of certain other offenses, you may be required to also purchase Bodily Injury Liability (BIL) insurance coverage.

PIP insurance provides medical coverage for you or almost anyone legally driving your vehicle or ridding in your vehicle as a passenger if your vehicle is involved in an accident, regardless of whose fault the accident is deemed to be.

As you can imagine, with medical costs as high as they are today, $10,000 in coverage may not go far in a serious crash. Depending on what assets you have that might conceivably be forfeit if you are unable to pay for the medical expenses of someone who is hurt in your vehicle because of a serious accident, you may wish to purchase considerably more PIP coverage than the minimum the state of Florida requires of you.

Property Damage Liability insurance covers repairs to another person's vehicle or other property if you are involved in an accident, regardless of whose fault the accident is determined to be.

$10,000 in Property Damage Liability insurance will barely cover a fender-bender for many of today's high-priced vehicles. Again, especially if you have a home or other assets which need protecting you may choose to purchase more PDL coverage than the state of Florida demands.

If you wish your vehicle to be repaired or replaced in the event of an accident you will need to buy Collision and Comprehensive insurance.

Collision coverage will repair or replace your vehicle if it is damaged by striking (or being struck by) another vehicle, or if it is damaged by striking an object such as a guard rail, a light pole, or a tree. You should consider purchasing collision insurance up to the Blue Book Value of your car.

Comprehensive insurance covers damage to your vehicle caused by natural acts (such as wind or hail damage) and acts of vandalism. And, just to make things confusing, it's the comprehensive portion of your insurance that pays you if you strike an animal, such as a deer, while driving. Again, you should purchase comprehensive insurance up to the Blue Book value of your vehicle.

You should review the amount of your collision and comprehensive with your agent each year since the Kelly Blue Book value of your car is most likely decreasing every year and there's no point in carrying coverage on your car in excess of Blue Book value since that's the most your insurance company will pay you in any event.

As you can see, the State of Florida actually requires very little from you in the way of insurance, but as you can also see, carrying the state minimum required insurance could very easily leave you open to lawsuits which will force you to pay money that could be considerably in excess of the minimum required insurance. This could put your home, your savings, or any other assets you possess at great risk.

And obviously if you are purchasing a new vehicle and you intend to finance your purchase your lender will undoubtedly require that you purchase full coverage insurance ? Personal Injury Liability (PIP), Property Damage Liability (PDL), Bodily Injury Liability (BIL) coverage, Collision and Comprehensive ? in amounts far greater than the state-mandated minimums.

Keep in mind that even though your lender has every right in the world to demand that you fully cover any vehicle being financed, your lender is not allowed to force you to purchase your insurance from any specific provider.

If you want to find the best possible price for your full coverage car insurance quote in Florida then you'll need to get on the internet and find at least 3 websites that allow you to make quick and easy head-to-head comparisons of prices for insurance at different insurance companies.

Make certain that you take the extra time and effort to make your comparisons on at least 3 different websites so that you can be assured that you're seeing the prices from virtually every insurance company operating in Florida.

Once you've done that then you can grab the absolute cheapest price possible for the full coverage car insurance that you need and rest easy every night knowing that you are not paying even one cent more for your car insurance than you absolutely have to.