INFORMATION ABOUT MINIMUM LIABILITY AND OTHER CAR INSURANCES IN TEXAS
Like other American states, Texas also has its own set of rules and regulations pertaining to car insurance. You cannot drive a car on Texan soil if you do not comply by those rules and regulations. As per the state’s financial responsibility laws, you will have to be liable for any loss or damage of property or any personal injury that is caused by an accident due to your fault. It is thus essential that every driver carries liability car insurance with him so that the law doesn’t restrict him to drive on the roads of Texas.Minimum insurance coverage limits
Unlike some other American states, Texas does not have any requirement to cover the bodily injuries or property damages of uninsured motorists. This means that if you want to go with the minimum state required insurance for your car, you can simply opt for the minimum liability insurance and you are good to hit the roads.
Options other than liability insurance
Although you will be complying with the state laws with minimum liability insurance, the liability insurance alone will not cover you from any personal injury or will not cover the expenses for the repair of your car which might get damaged in an unfortunate accident. To get yourself and your vehicle protected against any damage or injury, you would need to have collision coverage with your car insurance. The collision coverage will cover the damages of your car that are caused by an accident.However, if your car gets damaged from something other than a collision or accident, you will not be able to file any claim with the collision coverage. For non-collision damages you will have to have the comprehensive coverage with your car insurance, which will protect the vehicle from any unprecedented damage like flying pebbles, hails, fallen branches or instances of vandalism.
Considering the fact that about 20% drivers in Texas are not insured themselves, you may land up getting nothing if you get into an accident that is caused by any of these uninsured or underinsured drivers. Hence, it might be a smart move to be proactive and add the uninsured/underinsured drivers’ coverage along with your car insurance. That will ensure that even if you get hit by any of those non law-abiding careless drivers, you would still be protected from any damage caused by these reckless drivers.
You can also opt for the towing and labor coverage which will pay the towing expenses borne by you to take the damaged car to the repair workshop. This particular coverage would also pay for a part of the labor charges at the place where the breakdown of the car happens. To file claims against this coverage, you will have to prove to the insurers that the car was not in a position to be driven to the workshop and that is why it required to be towed to the repair shop.
Importance of car insurance in Texas
Although the state of Texas has a fairly high percentage of uninsured drivers, it is very important that you get your insurance done and renewed on time. You would be required to produce the proof of insurance at a number of places which include• DMV’s office while you renew your car’s registration or apply for new registration
• Driving license office when you apply for or renew your driving license
• The sheriff’s office or local police station if you get in to an accident
If you need to get your car inspected for any reason, you would need to show the proof of insurance to the inspectors as well. This proof of insurance would be the insurance card that would be issued to you by the insurance carrier when you purchase a policy from them.
If you are caught by the cops without carrying valid car insurance, heavy financial penalties would be imposed on you. The first instance will lead to fine that could range from $175 to $350 depending on the area and the severity of the damage. Any additional conviction will cause a financial penalty that would range from $350 to as much as $1000. If you are convicted repeated number of times, which could lead to the suspension of the driver’s license and the car might get impounded as well. To avoid all these hassles, it is wise to buy an insurance that would cost nothing more than $125 to $140 a month.
It’s better to get insured than to get caught
If you do not drive much or if your car is in lease period, you may wonder of getting away without car insurance. It is strongly recommended that you get the minimum liability insurance at least. As you know that in Texas the minimum amount of insurance coverage required is $30,000 per person per incidence, you can easily go with the 30/60/25 coverage plan and protect yourself from getting caught by the police on grounds of driving with valid car insurance. Unless you get caught under DWI (Driving while intoxicated) charge or you have too many tickets against your name, the minimum liability insurance will cost you nothing more than $60-$70. You may want to be reminded that if you have multiple traffic violations against your name, the insurance charges would increase manifolds.Before buying any car insurance, you would need to dedicate some time in doing the homework with various car insurance companies that sells car insurances in Texas. The prices of car insurance policies are not the cheapest here in Texas, hence you would need to get and compare quotations to ensure that you are not paying anything extra.
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