There is a difference between meeting insurance requirements and actually getting good protection for your vehicle.

In the state of Texas, there is a requirement for insurance coverage. That legal minimal insurance is meant to protect all drivers, but the problems you are left facing can include these:

• Not enough coverage to fully pay for another person’s vehicle
• Not enough coverage to pay for all medical expenses
• No coverage for your own vehicle at all

That last one is the killer, right? No coverage at all for your own vehicle if you only have the minimum, required liability insurance. If you have financing on your vehicle, the finance company will require more insurance because they want to protect their investment and property. It is your car, you drive it, but if something happens to that car, it is the financing company that will lose out and they may pursue legal actions to get back some of the money they have lost.

What is the Minimum Insurance Coverage Amount?

In Texas, you are legally required to provide insurance, which is called 30/60/25. That means that you are providing $30,000 in medical payment coverage for each person injured in an accident, for a total of $60,000 per incident. In addition, you must also provide $25,000 for property damage per accident. Simply put, if you hit a $75,000 vehicle in your own $50,000 car and injure four people, you will be left with a huge amount of money that you are personally responsible for beyond what the insurance will cover.

How Comprehensive Insurance Coverage Makes Sense for You

In addition to the minimum insurance coverage that you are required to have when you drive or register a car in the state of Texas, most people will buy other coverage types, including the comprehensive insurance option. With this option, you are buying insurance coverage that will keep you from being hit with major expenses from non-collision accidents or damages from other types of problems such as theft or vandalism.

Comprehensive insurance also will pay for a rental car or other type of temporary transportation when you are without a vehicle because of any covered event including theft or repairs that occur after accidents.

Consider the Conditions on the Roads in Texas

Why do you need comprehensive auto insurance coverage if you are not required to have it by law? Think about the roads in Texas and the conditions you might be faced with while driving there. These conditions can include:

• Busy roadways with thousands of other drivers in the major cities
• Remote roads that may be in various states of disrepair
• Rural roads where you might encounter random animals, including misplaced livestock
• Roads prone to flash flooding. These roads may be covered in water or covered in mud where the water has already receded

In addition to the conditions on the roads, you also need to consider some of the weather and other conditions in Texas, which can include hail, driving rain and flooding in some years or droughts and wild fires in other years.

Comprehensive Insurance and Auto Thefts

In 2007, Texas ranked number two on the list of the top ten states for car theft in the United States. Neither collision insurance nor liability insurance will pay you a single cent if your car is stolen. That means that if your car is financed and is stolen, you will still have to pay the cost of the car, without being able to drive it at all because it is gone. If that car is recovered but damaged, you are still out a vehicle and still paying for it.

Comprehensive insurance will cover the cost of your vehicle’s market value minus your required deductible if it is stolen, whether it is recovered or not but only if you report it to the police. There are instances where people will not report their car stolen because they may think it was taken by a family member or others or may even know that it was taken without permission.

In addition to theft, comprehensive insurance will also cover the cost of repairs if the car is vandalized. Vandals often do things such as slash tires, damage the gas tank or may break windows in the vehicle for many reasons.

Comprehensive Insurance, in Addition to, Not Instead of

In most cases, your agent will discuss the need to include comprehensive insurance in addition to other types of insurance instead of relying on it solely for your car and family’s protection. It is important to make sure that you have the right kind of coverage for your personal needs.