Did you know you're responsible for the injuries that happen on your property? And it can get expensive — fast. That's why personal liability coverage is so important.
No matter how cautious you are, accidents happen and can be very costly. Personal liability insurance is the part of your home insurance policy that steps in when someone makes a claim or sues you over bodily harm or property loss you caused. It can help pay for things like:
So say, for example, your neighbor stops by to bring your mail that accidentally got delivered to their house. Let’s also imagine it is raining hard that day, and unfortunately, your neighbor takes a nasty spill on your porch. Your poor neighbor ends up in the hospital after badly hurting their neck and back. They want you to pay $300,000 in damages accrued from missed work, surgery, and follow-up doctor visits.
If you didn’t have personal liability insurance to cover this massive cost, you might have to sell your house (and other assets) to settle the debt. But if you have at least $300,000 in personal liability insurance, you can make things right with your neighbor and not sell your property or deplete your savings.
Think it won’t happen to you? Consider this: according the National Safety Council (NSC), 38,300,000 people suffered nonfatal medically consulted injuries in homes in 2017.
Coverage E can help pay for:
Your personal liability coverage won’t help pay for:
It’s also worth noting that your personal liability coverage won’t address dog bite claims unless you add an animal liability endorsement to your policy.
The amount of personal liability coverage depends on a few factors:
Typically, homeowners insurance policies offer $100,000 in personal liability coverage at minimum. But because bodily injury liabilities are so expensive, it’s often smart to at least have the value of your home in liability protection. That’s because if someone is injured and sues for medical costs and additional expenses, like emotional damage, their lawyer may use your home’s value as a basis for what they can reasonably expect to win from you in a lawsuit.
Some insurance providers offer a maximum liability coverage amount (ours is $500,000 in Florida, for example). Oftentimes, increasing your liability protection has little impact on your total premium.
Learn more about how much homeowners insurance you need.
As a homeowner, your house is a major asset. It may be the biggest purchase you make your whole life. That also means if you have a home, you could lose it in a lawsuit.
That’s why personal liability protection is so important.
You need liability coverage if:
In some cases, it may even make sense for you to add extra liability protection by way of an umbrella policy. This is a cost-effective way to drastically increase your liability coverage.
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