Every driver in Arizona has to have at least basic liability car insurance. The state requires proof of insurance to register your vehicle, and you could wind up ticketed if you get pulled over by a police officer while you don’t have insurance.
Carrying continual coverage isn’t just necessary to legally drive. It is also crucial for your own financial protection. A mistake that takes only a second to make could result in life-altering injuries for someone else. If you are to blame for a crash, you need your insurance to protect you. You may also need to turn to your own coverage if another driver causes the crash without adequate insurance.
Is the policy you carry enough for your own protection?
What Arizona requires isn’t really much
Just complying with the law can leave you financially vulnerable. Arizona only requires liability coverage, and the amount that the state mandates isn’t enough to buy a new vehicle, let alone cover the costs of serious injuries.
Drivers often try to keep their insurance costs low rather than maximizing their coverage. If you minimized the coverage you carry to keep your coffee lower, your insurance might offer just $15,000 worth of property damage protection and $25,000 worth of bodily injury liability coverage.
If a crash results in brain injuries, spinal cord injuries or a fatality, the costs that result from the wreck will be far higher than those required amounts of insurance. Adding more liability coverage helps protect you from even the worst collisions.
What if you aren’t at fault?
Your policy can help you if you get into a crash caused by a driver who has bad insurance coverage. If you add uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, you can make a claim for the expenses that the other driver’s policy should have covered.
You could also carry collision coverage and comprehensive coverage that will reimburse you for medical expenses, lost wages and even the cost to replace your vehicle after a crash. Although you will hopefully never need such coverage, having enough to cover your own expenses and protect your personal assets is important because of the risk involved in driving. Learning more about how insurance works after an Arizona car crash can help you decide if you need to upgrade your current coverage.
