When someone says they only want or only carry “PLPD” insurance on their vehicle they are using a somewhat outdated term, but one still commonly understood to refer to “liability only” auto insurance.
In Michigan this means your auto insurance policy would protect you as a driver: your liability if you were responsible for injuries or property damage in an auto accident. In Michigan your policy would also provide mandatory personal injury protection (PIP) coverage that pays medical benefits, lost wages, and household replacement services if you were injured in an auto accident.
With PLPD insurance what you’re not going to be insuring is the car itself. Any damages to your vehicle resulting from fire, theft, vandalism, hitting a deer or other animal, or a collision with another vehicle or object are not going to be covered.
With PLPD insurance there are still choices: you can choose the dollar amount your policy will pay on your behalf if you are legally responsible for injuries or property damage. Keep in mind once the liability limit you chose is exhausted you would be responsible for any additional costs. If you selected $100,000 of liability coverage, caused a serious injury to someone in an auto accident, and were successfully sued for $250,000 your insurance policy would pay their portion for a covered loss – $100,000 – and you would be responsible for the difference.
We encourage purchasing as much liability protection as you can reasonably afford. You may be surprised to find the difference in cost for increasing from $100,000 to $500,000 of liability protection is relatively modest.
Did you know?
Our auto insurance page provides a brief description of coverage choices.