DO I NEED COLLISION COVERAGE?

Does MY insurance cover me if I cause an accident?

It seems like the answer to this question would be “yes”. After all, that is why we buy insurance, right?

Actually, if you cause an accident, your car insurance coverage does not cover the damage to your vehicle or property unless you have collision coverage.

If you have a minimum limits policy as required by Louisiana law, you may not have additional collision coverage.

That means, if you cause an accident, you would have to pay for the damage to your vehicle yourself.

This is definitely not something you want to find out after the fact, so if you are reading this and have not been in an accident, it would be worth your time to find out now if you do or do not have collision coverage.

And if you do not, I would highly recommend getting it.

DOES COLLISION COVERAGE HELP ME IF THE ACCIDENT WAS NOT MY FAULT?

Yes. The second benefit to collision coverage is that it would cover damage to your vehicle if you were in an accident with someone else who did not have insurance or did not have enough insurance to pay for your damages.

In other words, collision coverage will pay for the damage to your vehicle regardless of who is at fault for the accident.

So the bottom line is…minimum policy limits only protect the other person if you cause an accident. You must have a collision coverage addition to your policy for your insurance to pay for the damage to your vehicle if you cause an accident.