What are the available types of physical damage insurance coverage?

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To start with, there is the Liability Coverage, which covers bodily injury inflicted on a third party, as well as property damages, both of which the insured driver is responsible for. This is coverage is basic and is required in the most number of states in the US. One may choose to avail of Liability Coverage under the Combined Single Limit policy, which pays for bodily injury and property damages under a single limit. Or, one may choose the Split Limit policy, which pays for bodily injuries and property damages separately.

Another type of insurance coverage is Collision (Coll) coverage, which pays for damages to your car when you collide with another vehicle, minus the deductible you choose. Usually, the higher the deductibles you pay, the lesser the premiums you will be required of. Same is true with Comprehensive (Comp) coverage, which covers all other harms that may come to your vehicle such as natural calamities, vandalisms, animal-caused damages, etc., except for harms caused by vehicle collisions. If you have both the Collision and Comprehensive coverage, you are said to have Full Insurance Coverage.

Next is the Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UM) coverage, which is very beneficial in such scenarios when you and your (insured) passengers are harmed by another driver, but that other driver does not have any insurance whatsoever to cover your expenses. In such cases, your own policy will cover your medical bills until the limit of your policy.

Very similar to UM coverage is the Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UNDUM) coverage. UNDUM covers your and your passengers’ medical expenses if the other driver which caused such harms has limited coverage, or is underinsured.

Both the UM and UNDUM cover the owner, other drivers under the same policy (for instance, a family under the same policy), and passengers. Also, these types of coverage will pay the medical expenses per person, per incident, respectively. Another thing to note is that the UM and UNDUM coverage may be combined under a single policy, for a more inclusive coverage policy. This depends, however, on state laws and rules of insurance companies.

Uninsured Property Damage (UMPD) coverage pays for property damages caused by an irresponsible driver who happens to not have any insurance that would pay for the damages he or she caused. However, it cannot replace Coll coverage, because UMPD coverage is very limited and will only work best with relatively small damages.