Bodily injury liability insurance

Bodily injury liability insurance helps protect you against expenses and damages a person might claim against you due to injuries they sustain in an auto accident you cause. When you purchase an insurance policy, your state likely requires you to purchase liability insurance.

If you cause an accident and the other driver or their passenger is injured, your BI liability insurance can help cover you for the cost of their medical and recovery claims, and even legal fees if you’re sued.

Your coverage helps protect you—the policyholder—if the other party’s insurance company pursues you for payment following an accident they believe you were responsible for. Common types of expenses that an injured person might try to claim against you include:

• Medical expenses

• Loss of income

• Pain and suffering

• Legal fees

• Funeral costs

Bodily injury liability insurance doesn’t cover the following in an accident you cause:

• Your own medical costs

• Your passengers’ medical costs—refer to your policy to determine whether your passengers are covered, and under what circumstances

• Damage to vehicles—yours or others’

It helps to consider the following types of insurance coverages—which can supplement BI liability—to help keep you, your passengers, and your vehicle protected in most incidents:

• Medical payments/Personal injury protection (PIP)

• Collision coverage

• Uninsured/Underinsured motorist coverage

• Comprehensive coverage

• Property damage (PD) liability

Most states require a minimum amount of bodily injury liability coverage. The amount you’re required to hold as a car owner depends on where you live and where your vehicle is registered.

Coverage limits establish the maximum amount your insurance company will cover for each type of coverage. The first two of the three numbers indicate the limits of your BI insurance.

For example, the insurance requirements in Texas are 30/60/25. This means:

The maximum amount your insurance will pay in BI liability per person in an accident is $30,000.

The maximum amount your insurance will pay in BI liability per accident is $60,000.

The third number refers to your property damage liability limit—in this case, $25,000.

Florida is unique in that it’s currently the only state that requires drivers to carry auto insurance, but doesn’t require bodily injury liability. Drivers in Florida are only required to carry:

• $10,000 property damage liability per accident

• $10,000 personal injury protection (PIP)

If you’re a Florida resident and you choose to carry optional bodily injury liability coverage, your maximum liability limits are:

• $100,000 bodily injury liability per person

• $300,000 bodily injury liability per accident

• $100,000 property damage liability per accident

Like other types of car insurance coverages, the amount you pay for your bodily injury liability coverage depends on several factors, including but not limited to:

• Your driving history

• Your insurance provider

• Where you live

Current consumer pricing for bodily injury liability insurance coverage varies by state, even when many other factors are similar.

To give you an idea of this variance, let’s say the same hypothetical driver receives an insurance quote for bodily injury liability coverage in three states. Their age, driving history, license status, and other information are the same in all three cases, but their quotes could come back as:

• Florida: $425 per year, or $35 per month

• Texas: $450 per year, or $37 per month

• Wisconsin: $480 per year, or $40 per month

Keep in mind that these rates apply to bodily injury liability coverage alone, and don’t include property damage coverage. Also, these insurance quotes are hypothetical, based on state- and industry-specific pricing trends.