What Does Bodily Injury Liability Insurance Cover?

Bodily injury liability pays, up to the limits you chose, for injuries or death you cause to other people when you are at fault in a crash: the other driver, their passengers, and pedestrians. Illinois's Department of Insurance describes it as paying for costs due to injury or death to a pedestrian or to people in another car, and notes it may also pay for a legal defense if you are sued because of 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. It is the half of liability coverage that is about people; property damage liability is the half that is about cars, fences, and buildings.

What it pays for

• Medical bills of the other driver and their passengers, which Texas's auto guide lists first among the things liability pays
• Injuries to pedestrians and to people in another car, in the words of Illinois's regulator
• Injury costs of your own passengers at many companies, as long as they are not members of your household, which Illinois's regulator calls out specifically
• A legal defense if you are sued over the crash, which Illinois's regulator says the coverage may also pay for

The policy covers more drivers than just you. Texas's auto guide says most policies cover you, your family, and people driving your car with your permission. So if a friend borrows your car and injures someone, your bodily injury liability is usually the coverage that responds first.

What it does not cover

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

How the limits work

Bodily injury limits are usually written as two numbers: the most the policy pays for any one injured person, and the most it pays for everyone injured in one crash. Texas's minimum is written as 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 regardless of how high the per-person number is.

Minimums are state rules, so 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 coverage as mandatory in that state. Each of those figures applies only in the state named.

Is the state minimum enough?

Usually not for a serious injury. The Oklahoma Insurance Department lists the belief that you only need the minimum liability insurance required by law as a myth, 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 makes the same point from the other direction: the minimums may be too low for a multi-vehicle accident, and the gap comes out of your own pocket.

The practical way to size it is to ask how much liability you could be sued for and still protect what you own. Raising bodily injury limits is often one of the cheaper changes on a policy, because most of the premium is driven by the car and the driver rather than the limit.

Bodily injury liability vs. uninsured motorist bodily injury

These are easy to confuse because both have bodily injury in the name. Bodily injury liability pays other people when you are at fault. Uninsured motorist bodily injury does the reverse: Illinois's regulator describes it as covering you for your 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.

Reading it on your declarations page

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

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