Bodily injury

Bodily injury

liability is sold in standard increments that designate both how much coverage you have per person in an accident, with an additional limit per accident.

For example, if you buy bodily injury worth $100,000/$300,000, each of the people you injured could be compensated $100,000, but only up to $300,000 per accident.

How much coverage you need is a function of what assets you have to protect. If you make $30,000 a year and rent your apartment, $50,000/$100,000 should suffice.

But if you make more than $75,000 a year, own a house worth $150,000 and have $40,000 in mutual funds, you should consider at least $100,000/$300,000 of coverage.

Our Net Worth Calculator can help you estimate just how much coverage you should get.How much you'll pay to increase your bodily injury liability coverage depends on several factors, including your age, marital status and driving record. It also depends on where you live.

For example, in rural Cortland County, New York, a 35-year old married male would pay an average of $87 annually to boost his coverage from $25,000/$50,000 to $100,000/$300,000, according to the New York State Department of Insurance.

In Manhattan, however, where the frequency of bodily injury is much higher, that same man would have to shell out an average of $251 more a year.

One more option:

If you have substantial assets, buy $300,000 in bodily injury on your auto policy and $300,000 on the liability portion of your homeowners policy.

Then spend another $150 to $300 for a $1 million umbrella policy, which covers you against all manner of liability claims. Should you want still more coverage, the cost for an additional $1 million in coverage is minimal:It's typically $75 to increase your coverage to $2 million, and then $50 for each million after that, according to the Insurance Information Institute.