Tennessee drivers must carry three different forms of liability auto insurance, these being property damage liability, bodily injury liability, and uninsured and underinsured coverage. With these three forms of insurance providing protection, the insured driver is kept protected from a variety of different claims a person could file when in an accident. These different types of claims may include medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.
As with every state in the union, Tennessee has a number of required minimums for auto insurance. For Tennessee drivers, this minimum is 25/50/10, which means the driver must have $25,000 in injury liability in place for every person that is injured in the accident. This minimum requirement also requires Tennessee drivers to carry $50,000 in coverage for all injuries per accident. In addition to carrying injury coverage, Tennessee drivers must also have $10,000 in property damage in place.
Bodily Injury Liability, which is referred to as BI for short, is put into place in used to protect the driver if he or she causes an accident. With this type of coverage put into place, the costs that are associated with the injury or death of those involved in the accident is covered. The benefits of Bodily Injury Liability insurance pays for the costs of injury or death to other drivers as well as pedestrians or passengers involved in the accident. In accordance with Tennessee law, all drivers are required to have $25,000 in coverage per person and $50,000 per accident.
Tennessee residents are also required to have insurance in place that covers for uninsured or underinsured drivers. This type of insurance pays for the medical expenses that result when another driver is at fault and does not have insurance in place or does not have enough insurance to cover the costs related to the accident. This type of insurance is required to provide a minimum of $25,000 in coverage per person and $50,000 per accident.
In order to have a vehicle registered in Tennessee or to legally drive a vehicle in the state, every driver must have minimum liability requirements in place. There are also many methods that a Tennessee driver can use to prove that this coverage is in place. The easiest way to do this is to simply present the insurance card that the insurance company issued.
Tennessee drivers that do not know where their insurence card is located or that have accidentally misplaced their cards can prove that they have coverage in other ways as well. For example, a Tennessee driver can use his or her receipt showing that he or she has made payment on the insurance premium. Or, a Tennessee driver can produce his or her insurance binder, which is issued by the insurance agent, as proof. A driver in Tennessee may also use his or her actual auto insurance policy or the policy’s current declarations page in order to demonstrate coverage. A certificate of liability insurance policy, which is issued by either the insurer or by an authorized agent, is another option available to Tennessee drivers.
For those drivers in that have recently purchased a new vehicle, proof of insurance may be accomplished by demonstrating that the previous vehicle had proper coverage in place. In order to prove their coverage in this way, however, the driver must also be able to demonstrate that the vehicle was purchased within the past 60 days.