Getting your first insurance policy in place can make you wonder “is liability auto insurance all I need?” Even for drivers who have added, changed or canceled insurance policies throughout the course of their driving history, the world of car insurance can be confusing and overwhelming. The thing is that it does not have to be that difficult to figure out. The important part is that by the end of the process you need to have the right amount of coverage.

How do you decide what the right amount of coverage is for you?

• Find out what your state’s minimum requirements are for car insurance. For example, all states except for New Hampshire require drivers to carry a minimum of liability car insurance. Other states may have other requirements such as collision insurance, comprehensive coverage or no fault insurance, just to name a few.

• If you are financing a car, you will need to find out what the minimum coverage you can have on the vehicle is. It is important to get the right type and amount of coverage for a financed car and to keep the policy current. Otherwise, the finance company is likely to tack on their own insurance, which ends up being much more pricy.

• If you have a car that is already paid for and may not be worth a high enough value to have full coverage, you may be better off with cheap liability auto insurance. You can put aside each month the money you are saving by carrying liability insurance as opposed to full coverage and if you do total out your car, you will have money to put towards a new car. Often times paying full coverage insurance premiums for an older vehicle will cost more per month than what you would get if for its value if the car is totaled.

What Exactly Liability Car Insurance Means

Liability insurance is the basic automobile coverage you need to have to cover another driver, passengers, repairs to the other car or property damage in the case of a collision where you are at fault. It means that if you are deemed at fault your own car will not be covered, but you will not have to pay anything out of pocket for damage and medical for others involved in the accident. Of course this is also determined by the amount at which you set your minimum and maximum coverages.

For instance:

• All states which require liability auto insurance have a minimum required amount, which varies across the country. Once you have met this, it is your choice on whether or not you want to go above and beyond the set amounts. Your policy will come with the maximums to be covered by your insurance carrier.

• The three numbers that impact your coverage as well as your price are expressed this way 20/45/20. The first number represents the amount of coverage you have for personal injury expenses per person per accident and would be $20,000 for this example. The middle number, which equals $45,000 in the example, is the amount for total medical coverage for all persons involved in a single accident. The final number, which is $20,00 here, is the amount of property damage that the insurance company will cover. You can go with the minimum requirements but should keep in mind if any of these areas exceed the amount of coverage you have, the rest of the medical or property damage expenses will be your out of pocket responsibility.

Some Other Facts about Liability Car Insurance

Liability insurance, which is also sometimes referred to as liability only insurance, is an affordable way for many drivers to get the minimum required insurance as deemed by their state. Getting cheap liability auto insurance is a way to avoid getting expensive tickets or fines if you are caught driving without insurance. Driving without insurance isn’t just risky as far as racking up driving infractions; it can also result in expensive problems if you should have a wreck.

Think of it this way:

• Without liability car insurance if you have an accident and are at fault, you will have to pay for a lot more than your own vehicle repairs. You will also be responsible for the repairs or possible replacement of the other car involved in the accident.

• Unless you have insurance, you will be liable for your own medical expenses. Not only that, you will be financially responsible for any passengers in your car and the driver and passengers of the other car or cars you hit.

• Any and all private property damage done to things such as a home, a fence, mail box or other property will be your responsibility to pay for out of pocket.

• You could also be looking at covering the costs of repairing or replacing public property things such as light poles, guard rails or buildings.

Coming up with the money per month to cover the liability auto insurance premiums is a great deal cheaper even in the long run than trying to pay for any of these things from your own out of pocket funding. This type of mistake can lead to such a great deal of debt that many drivers suffer things such as garnished wages, repossessed vehicles, foreclosed homes and ultimately bankruptcy.

The Bottom Line

Even if you have been driving illegally without the required minimum liability insurance, you can get a policy in place immediately. If this is your first time securing insurance coverage, if you are changing policies because your vehicle has depreciated in value and is no longer financed or for any other reason, you may want to get a liability car insurance policy in place as soon as possible.

You can work with an automobile insurance agent to find out what the minimum requirements are for your state and get a new policy in place. You can also get your liability insurance quotes right away from multiple competing insurance providers just by supplying the zip code for where you live.