Massachusetts law requires each and every driver to purchase minimum limits of car insurance. These minimums cover various situations you may find yourself in. However, buying only the minimum insurance can land you on a cheap of trouble if you need to use the insurance. Buying enough car insurance in the event of a car accident is critically important. Here are some additional and higher insurance coverages you should consider buying.

Med Pay

Med Pay, or medical payments coverage, provides optional insurance to cover your medical bills. This acts as a supplement to PIP, or Personal Injury Protection coverage which you are required to buy. Purchasing adequate Med Pay is very important, and especially important if you have a motorcycle accident since PIP is not available to motorcyclists.

Consider purchasing enough Med Pay as you can afford. If you get into a serious accident and sustain a serious knee injury such as a torn mensicus, or you break a wrist, Med Pay will be available to pay the medical bills that will come from having a hospital stay and x-rays and MRIs, etc.

Bodily Injury Coverage

This coverage is required in Massachusetts. By law you must carry at least $20,000/$40,000. This coverage is needed if you negligently-caused injure someone in an accident. But if the personal injuries suffered by the other party are serious, then this minimum insurance will not be enough coverage. Consider purchasing (for a nominal fee) limits of $250,000/$500,000. In fact you should buy even more if you can afford it, in the event that any catastrophic injuries are sustained.

Underinsured and Uninsured Coverage

This is required car insurance in Massachusetts. Like with bodily injury coverage, Massachusetts law requires you to carry $20,000/$40,000 in both underinsured coverage, as well as underinsured coverage.

Underinsured coverage is what you need if someone seriously injures you in a car accident, but they only have minimum bodily injury insurance. This coverage applies to the extent that is exceeds the at-fault driver’s bodily injury coverage. For example, if you sustain serious injuries from an auto accident and the at-fault driver only has a $20/$40 policy, and you have a $100/$200 underinsured policy, then you can collect (assuming your injuries warrant it) the difference, which is $80,000.

Uninsured coverage applies both when the driver that caused the accident either does not have a car insurance policy (happens with NH drivers who don’t require insurance, or when an active policy lapses) or for hit and run accidents when the at-fault driver can’t be identified.

Purchasing higher than the required limit of $20,000 will protect you in you get insured in an accident and there is no available bodily injury coverage to pursue.