Pennsylvania Car Insurance Requirements

Within Pennsylvania, there are minimum requirements when it comes to your Pennsylvania car insurance. The minimum amount for medical benefits is $5,000. This will pay for your medical benefits regardless of fault. The minimum amount for bodily injury liability is $15,000/$30,000. This coverage will pay for another person’s medical expenses if you have injured someone else in a car accident and are liable. The first number ($15,000) will pay for one person’s injuries while the second figure ($30,000) will be the maximum amount paid for any one accident. The last required coverage is Property Damage Liability. Just as it sounds, this coverage will be used if you damage someone’s property. The minimum amount for this coverage is $5,000.

When you consider the minimum amounts, they really aren’t that high when you think about it. If you were to be injured in a car accident, how fast would the $5,000 medical benefits limits be met? Additionally, if you were to slide off the road and hit a person’s house, do you think the limit of $5,000 for property damage would be enough? These are things to consider when you look at structuring your auto insurance coverage.

Sometimes the bare minimums are not enough and it pays to purchase a better policy. Most people are always looking to save money on their Pennsylvania car insurance, but you may not want to lower your coverage limits or have “bare bones” coverage since you are putting yourself at greater financial risk.

You may be able to adjust your deductibles in order to afford a better policy. For example, would you prefer to have a $1,000 deductible instead of a $500 deductible in order to increase your coverage limits? Which scenario do you have more to lose? Can you afford to pay a higher deductible in the event of an accident? Can you afford to pay for any expenses over and above your coverage limits? These are a few questions you may want to ask yourself while obtaining Pennsylvania car insurance quotes.

Will it be cheaper in the long run for you to have a higher deductible or a policy with the minimum coverage? Let’s explore a scenario. You are involved in an accident and are found at fault. You have a policy that has a $500 deductible and $15,000 bodily injury coverage; however the actual costs were $30,000. You would be responsible for not only the $500 deductible, but also the $15,000 that is not covered by your car insurance policy. So, you want to ask yourself, what makes more sense: to have a policy with a $1,000 deductible, which might have covered the actual costs or a lower deductible and a policy with the minimum coverage’s. In the first scenario you would have paid out $15,500 and in the second scenario, you would have paid $1,000.

It’s not black and white and each person’s situation is different. That’s why it pays to get a few quotes with different coverage limits so you can compare each option and make a decision that is best for your overall financial situation. The bottom line is that selecting minimum coverage’s may end up costing you more in the future even though it may save you money in the short-term.