Bodily Injury Liability Coverage: What It Pays For and How Much to Carry

Bodily injury liability is the part of your car insurance that pays, up to the limits you selected, when you are at fault in a crash and other people are hurt or killed: the other driver, their passengers, and pedestrians. The Illinois Department of Insurance describes it as paying for costs due to injury or death to a pedestrian or to people in another car, and adds that it may also pay for a legal defense if you are sued over the accident. The Texas Department of Insurance says liability coverage pays the other driver's and his or her passengers' medical bills and some other expenses. Think of it as the people half of liability coverage. Property damage liability is the half that deals with cars, fences, and buildings.

What it pays for

• The other driver's medical bills and those of their passengers, which Texas's auto guide puts first on its list of what liability pays
• Injuries to pedestrians and to people in another vehicle, in the Illinois regulator's wording
• Injury costs for your own passengers at many companies, provided they are not members of your household, a point the Illinois regulator calls out specifically
• A legal defense if you are sued because of the crash, which the Illinois regulator says the coverage may also pay for

The coverage extends beyond you as a driver. Texas's auto guide says most policies cover you, your family, and people driving your car with your permission. If a friend borrows your car and injures someone, your bodily injury liability is usually the first coverage to respond.

What it does not cover

• Your own injuries. California's regulator describes the coverage as applying to injuries you cause to someone else. Your own medical bills are the job of medical payments coverage, personal injury protection, or your health insurance.
• Damage to your own car. That is what collision coverage is for. Washington's regulator notes that even property damage liability typically will not pay for damage to your own car.
• Injuries to household members riding with you, at many companies. Illinois's regulator describes passenger coverage as applying as long as they are not household members, so read your own policy's wording.
• Anything above your limit. Texas's regulator warns that you could be personally responsible for any amount beyond your limits.

How the limits are written

Bodily injury limits usually appear as two numbers: the most the policy pays for any one injured person, and the most it pays for everyone injured in a single crash. Texas's minimum is written 30/60/25, which the Texas Department of Insurance explains as at least $30,000 of coverage for injuries per person, up to a total of $60,000 per accident, plus $25,000 for property damage. If three people are seriously hurt in a crash you cause, the $60,000 accident cap is shared among them no matter how high the per-person number is.

Because minimums are set by each state, they differ. California's Department of Insurance lists $30,000 for the death or injury of any one person and $60,000 for more than one person in an accident. Illinois requires at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Oklahoma's minimum is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Washington's regulator describes bodily injury liability as mandatory in that state. Each figure applies only in the state named.

Is the state minimum enough?

For a serious injury, usually not. The Oklahoma Insurance Department lists the idea that you only need the minimum liability insurance required by law among its myths, says the minimums likely will not be enough coverage in an accident, and notes that a general recommendation from the insurance industry is 100/300/100, meaning $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident, and $100,000 of property damage. Texas's regulator reaches the same conclusion from the other side: the minimums may be too low for a multi-vehicle accident, and the shortfall comes out of your own pocket.

A practical way to size the coverage is to ask how much liability you could be sued for and still keep what you own. Raising bodily injury limits is often one of the less expensive changes you can make to a policy, because most of the premium is driven by the car and the driver rather than by the limit itself.

Bodily injury liability versus uninsured motorist bodily injury

The two are easy to mix up because both carry bodily injury in the name. Bodily injury liability pays other people when you are at fault. Uninsured motorist bodily injury works in reverse. Illinois's regulator describes it as covering you for your own bodily injury caused by a hit-and-run driver or an at-fault driver who has no auto liability insurance. One protects your assets from other people's claims. The other protects you when the person who hit you has nothing to claim against.

Finding it on your declarations page

Look for a line labeled bodily injury liability, or BI, with two dollar amounts next to it. Property damage liability, or PD, shows as a single amount. If you see only one combined figure, you have a combined single limit policy, which pays up to that amount for injuries and property damage together in one crash. In either format, the numbers are caps, not amounts the policy pays automatically.

Not sure what your own bodily injury limits mean, or whether they fit what you have to protect? Lanewise Auto offers plain-English guidance. Tell us what you want help with, call (888) 905-2130, or email contact@lanewiseauto.com, and we will walk you through your declarations page. Nothing to buy, no obligation.

The bottom line: bodily injury liability pays for the people you injure in a crash you cause, and for your lawyer if they sue you. It does nothing for your own injuries or your own car. The state minimum keeps you legal, but a serious injury can exceed it quickly, so choose limits based on what you could lose rather than the lowest number the law allows.