Many families have or will have teenage drivers in the household at some point, and that can be both exciting and scary at the same time. The sad truth is that insurance rates will go up when teenage drivers are added. Deciding to cut liability limits down to save money could be a huge mistake.
There was a large claim where a drunk teenager was asked to leave by the parents of a high school student throwing a party. They drove off with no lights on in the middle of the night and drove into a tree, which sent the passenger through the windshield and resulted in her breaking her back. Not only was the driver’s insurance held liable, but the parents of the teenager who threw the party were held liable because they were negligent from keeping the students away from alcohol and not ensuring they had a safe ride home.
The lawsuit got messy and both parties did not have nearly enough liability coverage to take care of the medical bills and physical therapy that the injured teenager’s parents sued for. This is a perfect example of why having higher liability limits are so important; we never know how messy a situation can get, and if there is low liability limits the insurance companies will not pay. Protect yourself with higher liability limits. This is why as Your Friends in the Insurance Business our agency standard, and recommendation is no less than $500,000 in liability coverage.