Auto insurance is at once a fortune and a necessary evil. California state law says that you have to have it if you own a personal car and want to drive it. Auto insurance also comes in handy if you are ever involved in an accident (no matter how major or minor) and are found to be at fault. Your insurance company and not you will be paying the personal injury settlement to the plaintiff. So that brings an important question that lawyers are asked all of the time, “How much auto insurance do you need as a driver in California?”

Auto insurance in California

Did you know that you can be fined if a police officer pulls you over and you can’t show him that you have valid auto insurance? What’s more about auto insurance in California is that your policy must have a minimum amount of coverage which is $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident. Most personal injury lawyers in Norwalk and Fountain Valley could tell you that this is the minimum amount that will pay for the property damage and bodily injuries the plaintiff will incur in a personal injury accident.

How much auto insurance do you really need?

Personal injury lawyers get asked this question by their clients constantly. The answer they give their clients is, “carry auto insurance whose policy limits are at least double of all of your personal assets. You will need at least this amount of coverage to adequately pay for most auto accidents.” The reason for this incredibly high amount is because auto insurance doesn’t just pay for the plaintiff’s car you totaled or his or her leg that was broken in the accident. It also pays for medical bills that the plaintiff will incur.

Your lawyer would inform you that if you are not rich, you should buy a personal auto insurance policy whose coverage is at least $100,000. This is because this is the minimum amount needed to cover all of the plaintiff’s expenses if he or she is involved in a nasty and major car accident that was your fault. It will also pay for any bodily injuries or property damage that you may incur because of the accident.

Carry more coverage to be on the safe side

Any lawyer will tell you that, “the more coverage your auto insurance policy has the better because you can never predict the severity or extent of monetary damages that will arise from an auto accident that is your fault!” Now that you know all of this, doesn’t it make sense to carry an auto insurance policy with at least $1,000,000 in coverage?