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In most all provinces in Canada, driving without car insurance is illegal. Driving without insurance means that you could be fined, or worse. So it’s important that if you do have a car, you start looking into car insurance Vancouver. if you don’t have insurance you might be confused as to what the various aspects of Vancouver car insurance is, and that is what I am here to help you with! There are 7 main aspects to car insurance as follows:

- Bodily Injury Liability

- Property Damage Liability

- Medical payments or Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

- Collision

- Comprehensive

- Uninsured/Under-insured motorists coverage (UM/UIM)

Liability insurance is simply used to cover the damage you may do to someone else in an accident. These numbers are usually written in three types of numbers such as 20/40/10. This means that $20,000 is covered in bodily injury per person, $40,000 is covered in bodily injury per accident and $10,00 are covered in property damage. Obviously, the higher the numbers, the better the insurance is and the safer you will be IF you did get into an accident, have it be your fault or not. If you caused injury or damage beyond what the insurance offers, then you would have to pay the extras on your own. For example, if you cause $50,000 in damage and your insurance only covers $40,000, then you would have to pay $10,000 extra in damage, out of pocket.

Collision and Comprehensive coverage. Collision coverage is used to repair your own car or vehicle. A car that is noted as being “totaled” is a car that exceeds the initial threshold of the cars value. If this does happen, they will usually tow your car to the tow yard and offer you cash for the value of your car. By buying collision coverage you are also raising your deductible. Comprehensive coverage on the other hand pays for damage not done by a car accident. For example, if there is a tornado, flood, if you hit a deer, etc. You can use that coverage.

Medical payments, PIP and no-fault, this kind of coverage pays for medical expenses for you and your passengers (if any). You’re also covered in this instance if you are driving someone else’s car as well. Medpay will pay no matter who caused the accident. PIP will pay for medical expenses and lost wages for you and your passengers. It will also cover funeral costs as well. This is required in specific areas and may or may not be needed if you live in a place such as Vancouver. It’s a good idea to check your government website for more information.

Uninsured/under-insured motorist coverage pays for medical bills, if for example, a driver hits you and they are uninsured. Of course not having insurance IS illegal, but that doesn’t mean everyone will follow the law and do what is expected of them. If someone does hit you and they aren’t insured, or if you are a victim of a hit and run situation, you can claim coverage by using UM. Also, UIM is for people that are in an accident and don’t have enough coverage to pay for all the damage or medical bills. At this point in time, the person that hits you or the person who’s at fault will pay out a maximum fee to cover your bills.