Kansas Car Insurance: Basic Guidelines for Beginners

Auto insurance can be a very confusing issue for a beginning driver, although the consequences of not carrying an insurance policy are clear as day. There are a few basic pieces of information that all drivers must know before shopping for insurance in Kansas.

KS motorists are among the most well insured drivers in the United States. Kansas is what is known as a no-fault state, which means that in the event of an accident each individual’s expenses will be covered by their own insurance policy regardless of who was responsible. This was intended to cut back on the number of lawsuits resulting from traffic accidents and to ensure that all motorists were able to receive medical care and any necessary therapy or follow up care as quickly as possible. PIP, or personal injury protection, is Kansas’s no fault insurance and will pay up to:

• four thousand five hundred dollars in medical expenses
• one month’s worth of lost income
• twenty five dollars a day for in-home assistance if it is deemed necessary
• two thousand dollars in funeral expenses
• four thousand five hundred dollars in rehabilitation services
• some death benefits for the family to help compensate for lost wages

An individual possessing an excellent private health insurance policy may elect to carry only a minimum PIP policy.

In the event that a injury exceeds a certain level of severity the courts will rule that it does in fact warrant a lawsuit, and the driver responsible for the accident will be held responsible for the victim’s expenses. For this reason KS drivers are also required to carry liability insurance on their vehicle. A minimum liability policy will cover up to twenty five thousand dollars in medical expenses for an individual, fifty thousand dollars for the combined medical expenses of all of the occupants of the vehicle if the driver was transporting passengers and ten thousand dollars to help pay for property repairs, including damages suffered by the victim’s vehicle.

Kansas is also one of only twenty one states in the United States that require their drivers to have uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance. Since not all states in the US require their drivers to have good liability insurance, chances are that at some point a driver will be involved in an accident with a person who has no insurance, or whose liability policy will not pay for the costs of repairs. This policy will also apply in the case of a hit and run, and will pay for both the cost of the driver’s medical expenses and for their pain and suffering.

While it is not required by the state it is recommended that all drivers carry collision and comprehensive insurance. This will pay for damages to the vehicle of the driver responsible for the accident, as well as in the case of an altercation with the local wildlife or an incident caused by inclement weather.

For more information regarding auto insurance in Kansas consumers can contact the Department of Insurance in Topeka by either visiting their website (http://www.ksinsurance.org) or calling them at 1-800-432-2484.