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- Property Damage Coverage
Property Damage Coverage
This coverage is for damage to other people's property caused by your vehicle.
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What is Property Damage Coverage?
If you're responsible for an accident, Property Damage Coverage will take care of the cost of repairing or replacing another person's property.
This typically means damage to someone else's car, but it could apply to any other type of property you damage in an accident.
Standard coverage that protects property when you're at fault
What does Property Damage Coverage cover?
- Damage to another vehicle
- Damage to another person's property
What else should you know?
- If the cost of damages exceeds the amount of your coverage, you are responsible for the remaining cost
- You can choose a higher limit for this coverage, meaning you'll be covered for a higher amount if you're in an accident
How much property damage liability do I need?
Property Damage Liability, sometimes called PD, is one of the coverages required by most states. That being said, each state sets how much coverage is required. Please note, what's required versus what you may need can be different.
A few things to ask yourself when choosing how much Property Damage Coverage you may need are
- Do you own a home or other expensive items?
- Do you normally travel in high-traffic areas?
- Are there a lot of expensive vehicles driven in your area like BMW's, Mercedes', Tesla's, Porsche's, etc.?
If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you may want to think about raising your coverage. You can also check out our car insurance coverage calculator to help you figure out how much you may need.
What happens if property damage exceeds coverage?
Every car insurance policy has a limit on what will be paid if you're at fault for an accident. This is why it's important to make sure you get enough coverage to protect yourself if you're involved in an accident.
Example
Your state requires $20,000 in Property Damage Coverage, which is what you choose. Driving to work one day, you rear-end a car, pushing that car into the car in front of it, pushing that one into the one in front of it.
A few things to ask yourself when choosing how much Property Damage Coverage you may need are
- Car 1's damage: $10,000
- Car 2's damage: $8,000
- Car 3's damage: $5,000
- Total: $23,000
In this example, your policy would cover up to your $20,000 limits, leaving $3,000 that may need to be paid out of pocket by you. When you insure your car with Liberty Mutual, we'll try to settle all damages within your limits, but this may not always be possible. In these cases, the other person/people may then try to collect from you directly
Beyond increasing your limits, you may also be interested in adding an umbrella insurance policy. This type of policy can add more coverage on top of your normal car insurance.
How can I read what my Property Damage Coverage limits are?
Property Damage Coverages are sometimes written as: number 1/number 2/number 3.
- Number 1 = Bodily Injury liability limits per person (the max per person that will be paid)
- Number 2 = Bodily Injury liability limits per accident (the max per accident that will be paid, with number 1, still being the max per person)
- Number 3 = Property Damage Liability limits per accident (the max that will be paid for damages to property)
For example, this could look like 100/300/100. Here it's
- $100,000 of Bodily Injury Coverage per person
- $300,000 of Bodily Injury Coverage per accident (meaning if you injure multiple people in an at fault accident, this amount with a max of $100,000 for each person).
- $100,000 of Property Damage Coverage for damages to property