If you are a resident of the state of Colorado there are insurance requirements you must meet to drive on the roadways in your state. Every state requires you to have a designated amount of car insurance to cover you, your family and your vehicle. Mandatory coverage and minimums are set by the insurance commissioner of each state and it is illegal to drive on the streets and highways in the state of Colorado without at least the required coverage.
In Utah, you have two options for financial responsibility. You must secure liability coverage through a licensed insurance agency, or if you do not purchase regular car insurance, you can provide proof of self insurance if you have at least 25 vehicles registered in your name.
The state of Utah requires their drivers to carry the following liability coverage: $25,000 per person for bodily injury; $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $15,000 per accident for property damage. These are the minimum levels required by your state and are the maximum amount that your insurance carrier will pay out in case of an accident. You may want to increase your limits to further protect you and your family.
Your bodily injury liability coverage will take care of the other people who were involved in the accident if you were at fault. It will pay their medical bills, compensation for lost wages, legal representation, rehabilitation, or nursing care, pain and suffering, and funeral expenses in the case of death. It does not cover you or any passengers in your vehicle.
Property damage coverage will take care of the repair of the property that you damaged due to an accident that you caused. It will also replace the property including any other personal items that may have been damaged as a result of this accident.
Another form of coverage that you may want to consider is comprehensive coverage. It protects the value and replacement of your car in the event that it is damaged as a result of anything other than an accident, for example if your car is stolen, someone breaks into it or it suffers flood damage.
While you are not required to carry personal injury protection, or PIP, it does take care of you, any passengers in your vehicle as well as you and member of your household who may be passengers in another vehicle that has been in an accident.
You may want to check out the additional areas of insurance coverage that is available that you may wish to add to your policy. If you have a vehicle that has been financed your lender will require you to carry collision coverage to protect their investment. If you have an older vehicle it usually doesn’t pay to carry collision but if you have a car that has substantial value, financed or otherwise, you should consider collision coverage.
You are not required to carry uninsured or under-insured motorist coverage, but one will protect you if you get hit by someone who does not have insurance and the other covers you if the other driver doesn’t have enough coverage or if you are the victim of a hit and run accident.
