The basic personal auto insurance mandated in Texas provides some financial protection if you or another driver using your car causes an accident that damages someone else’s car or property, injures someone or both.
Texas’s required minimums (Bodily Injury $30,000 per person $60,000 per accident and $25,000 property damage) may not cover the costs of a serious accident and leave you in jeopardy, so we recommend higher levels of coverage and normally find it only a few dollars more per month.
Types of coverages available in the Lone Star State.
Mandatory coverages in Texas
Texas requires personal auto owners to carry the following auto liability coverage:
Bodily Injury Liability — This covers costs associated with bodily Injuries and death that you or another insured driver causes while driving your car in the event of an accident. Greg Williams advises that you carry enough bodily injury liability limits to protect your perceived financial assets.
Property Damage Liability — This coverage will reimburse both public and private property for damage that you or another insured driver operating your car causes to another vehicle or other property, such as a fence, building, car, home, or utility pole.
Covering both public and private property like a car, telephone pole, home, fence, or commercial building, property damage coverage provides for the damage for which you are liable in the event of a car accident.
Not required, but important coverages
Texas does not require these coverages. We HIGHLY recommend them.
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) — Provides reimbursement for medical expenses for injuries to you or your passengers. It will also cover lost wages, medical bills and other related expenses.
Uninsured Motorist Coverage — Reimburses you when an accident is caused by an uninsured motorist—or in the case of a hit-and-run. You can also purchase under insured motorist coverage, which will cover costs when another driver lacks adequate coverage to pay the costs of a serious accident.
Even if these types of coverage are optional in your state, consider adding them to your policy for greater financial protection.
Voluntary coverages
Mandated auto insurance covers the cost of damages to other vehicles that you cause while driving, it does not cover damage to your own car. To cover this, you need to purchase the following optional auto insurance coverages:
Collision — This optional coverage reimburses you for damage to your car that occurs as a result of a collision with another vehicle or other object—e.g., a tree. state property like a sign or guardrail—when you’re at fault.
Comprehensive — This provides coverage against theft and damage caused by an incident other than a collision, such as fire, flood, vandalism, hail, falling rocks or trees and other hazards
Glass Coverage — Windshield damage is common in Texas, and some auto policies include $0 glass deductibles, which also includes side windows, rear windows and glass sunroofs.
Bridge the gap… insurance
If you lease or finance your vehicle, auto dealers or lenders will likely require you to purchase collision and comprehensive. But keep in mind that collision and comprehensive only cover the market value of your car, not what you paid for it—and new cars depreciate quickly. If your car is totaled or stolen, there may be a “gap” between what you owe on the vehicle and your insurance coverage. To cover this, you may want to look into purchasing gap insurance to pay the difference. (Note: For leased vehicles, gap coverage is usually rolled into your lease payments.) At Greg Williams Agency we cab provide Gap insurance for $3-$5 per month.
Who is covered—and when?
Your auto policy will cover you and other family members on your policy, whether driving your insured car or someone else’s car with permission. Your policy also provides coverage if someone not on your policy is driving your car with your consent.
Your personal auto policy only covers personal driving, whether you’re commuting to work, running errands or taking a trip. Your personal auto policy, however, will not provide coverage if you use your car for commercial purposes—for instance, if you deliver pizzas or operate a delivery service. Note, too, that personal auto insurance will generally not provide coverage if you use your car to provide transportation to others through a ride-sharing service such as Uber or Lyft. Progressive Insurance is now offering extra coverage (at additional cost) that extends to auto owners that are providing ride-sharing services.