How does car insurance cover parties in the car?

Answer 1

The Bodily Injury policy limits dictate how much coverage there is for the car in case of an accident that causes medical injuries. If the other party has $15K/$30K that means they have $15K in coverage for each person in the car but a maximum of $30K for all passengers. So if there are two people in the car they each have up to $15K to pay their medical bills, damages and pain and suffering. But if the car is full with 4 people then there is a maximum of $30K to cover everyone's medical bills, damages and pain and suffering.

The better policies have $100K/$300K which usually is enough to cover all damages.

If there are a lot of injuries and medical bills and $15K is not enough to cover them all then your uninsured motorist provision in your own policy can cover the excess. The uninsured policy has coverage built in for "UNDERINSURED" accidents when the driver at fault's policy limits are not high enough to cover all of the damages. Once you settle with the At Fault driver's insurance company and receive a check for policy limits, in this case $15K, then you turn around and submit the same evidence of medical bills and damages and the check from the other insurance company to your insurance company. Depending on the state you are in you will be able to recover the balance that was unpaid from your own company. This underinsured claim will only work if your uninsured policy limits are higher than the other driver's limits. For example, if the other driver's limit is $25K and your uninsured limit is $100K and your medical bills are $100K then you could get up to $75K if you are in CA but if you are in NV you get up to $100K.

There is also property damage coverage to pay for repairs, loss of use of the car while it is being repaired (rental car bills) and any property that was damaged during the accident (sunglasses, cell phone, clothing).