Bodily Injury Liability

This coverage, which is required in most states, compensates the driver of the other car and its passengers in the event you get into an accident. It also covers the passengers in your car. The main consideration here is protecting your assets against lawsuits that arise from auto accidents. "But I'm a careful driver," you say. It doesn't matter. You can get sued even if the accident is not your fault. This is something you need to consider when shopping for online car insurance.
Bodily injury liability is sold in standard increments that designate both how much coverage you have per person in an accident, with an additional limit per accident. For example, if you buy bodily injury worth $100,000/$300,000, each of the people you injured could be compensated $100,000, but only up to $300,000 per accident. You get an online auto insurance quote to check rates in your area.
How much coverage you need is a function of what assets you have to protect. If you make $30,000 a year and rent your apartment, $50,000/$100,000 should suffice. But if you make more than $75,000 a year, own a house worth $150,000 and have $40,000 in mutual funds, you should consider at least $100,000/$300,000 of coverage. Our Net Worth Calculator can help you estimate just how much coverage you should get.
How much you'll pay to increase your bodily injury liability coverage depends on several factors, including your age, marital status and driving record. It also depends on where you live. For example, in rural Cortland County, New York, a 35-year old married male would pay an average of $86 annually to boost his coverage from $25,000/$50,000 to $100,000/$300,000, according to the New York State Department of Insurance. In New York City, however, where the frequency of bodily injury is much higher, that same man would have to shell out an average of $240 more a year.
One more option: If you have substantial assets, buy $300,000 in bodily injury on your auto policy and $300,000 on the liability portion of your homeowners policy. Then spend another $150 to $300 for a $1 million umbrella policy, which covers you against all manner of liability claims. Should you want still more coverage, the cost for an additional $1 million in coverage is minimal: It's typically $75 to increase your coverage to $2 million, and then $50 for each million after that, according to the Insurance Information Institute and 21st Century Insurance.

A Combination of Liability & Gap Insurance may be just what you need!

As you shop online for the best online auto insurance deals you may begin to ask yourself what exactly is required by law when it comes to online auto insurance. Fortunately this article outlines the auto liability insurance state minimums that you are required to have in order to legally drive in the United States. No matter what state you drive in all of them have financial responsibility laws and require motorists to purchase minimum amounts of auto liability insurance except for Tennessee, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.

Many websites and advocates of insurance (to include myself) recommend having a minimum of $100,000 for bodily injury protection per person and at least $300,000 for property damage costs and physical injury costs. The main reason for this is due to the increased amount of money needed to rectify an accident is usually more then what the states declare as the minimum amount of insurance coverage needed.

I have compiled the following information from the American Insurance Association, the Property Casualty Insurers Association, and the Insurance Information Institute. It shows the auto liability insurance state minimums as required by each state. In order to understand the numbers you must know what the mean. The first two numbers are for bodily injury liability and the third number represents the minimum amount of property damage liability.

As an example my home state of Missouri shows the following - Missouri 25/50/10. This means Missouri requires as a minimum coverage up to $50,000 for all persons injured in an accident, subject to a limit of $25,000 for one individual, and $10,000 coverage for property damage.

Alabama 20/40/10 Alaska 50/100/25 Arizona 15/30/10 Arkansas 25/50/25 California 15/30/5 Colorado 25/50/15 Connecticut 20/40/10 Delaware 15/30/5 D.C. 25/50/10 Florida 10/20/10 Georgia 25/50/25 Hawaii 20/40/10 Idaho 25/50/15 Illinois 20/40/15 Indiana 25/50/10 Iowa 20/40/15 Kansas 25/50/10 Kentucky 25/50/10 Louisiana 10/20/10 Maine 50/100/25 Maryland 20/40/15 Massachusetts 20/40/5 Michigan 20/40/10 Minnesota 30/60/10 Mississippi 10/20/05 Missouri 25/50/10 Montana 25/50/10 Nebraska 25/50/25 Nevada 15/30/10 New Hampshire 25/50/25 New Jersey 15/30/5 New Mexico 25/50/10 New York 25/50/10 North Carolina 30/60/25 North Dakota 25/50/25 Ohio 12.5/25/7.5 Oklahoma 10/20/10 Oregon 25/50/10 Pennsylvania 15/30/5 Rhode Island 25/50/25 South Carolina 15/30/10 South Dakota 25/50/25 Tennessee 25/50/10 Texas 20/40/15 Utah 25/50/15 Vermont 25/50/10 Virginia 25/50/20 Washington 25/50/10 West Virginia 20/40/10 Wisconsin 25/50/10 Wyoming 25/50/20

Remember these figures only represent online auto insurance liability state minimums. Many experts agree that more insurance is needed in order to fully protect yourself in the event you’re involved in an automobile accident.

Gap Insurance

Loan/Lease Payoff coverage, also known as GAP coverage or GAP insurance,was established in the early 1980's to provide protection to consumers based upon buying and market trends.
Due to the sharp decline in value immediately following purchase, there is generally a period in which the amount owed on the car loan exceeds the value of the vehicle, which is called "upside-down" or negative equity. Thus, if the vehicle is totalled at this point, the owner will still owe potentially thousands of dollars on the loan. The escalating price of cars, longer-term auto loans, and the increasing popularity of leasing gave birth to GAP protection. GAP waivers provide protection for consumers when a "gap" exists between the actual value of their vehicle and the amount of money owed to the bank or leasing company. In many instances this insurance will also pay the deductible on the primary insurance policy. These policies are often offered at the auto dealership as a comparatively low cost add on that can be put into the car loan which provides coverage for the duration of the loan.