What you need to be fully
protected in Pennsylvania

Many people do not understand the difference between the limited tort and full tort options offered by their auto insurance company:

• Limited tort prevents you from receiving compensation for pain and suffering if you are injured in an accident, unless you have a serious injury—legally defined as a serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement. This was intended to save you 15% on your insurance premium in return for giving up the right to make a claim for whiplash injuries. However, insurance companies looking to minimize their liability have argued that a variety of injuries—like broken bones or small facial scars—are not serious injuries. So, many victims of reckless drivers have been prevented from seeking justice. Limited tort not only puts you and your family at risk in your own car, but it applies when you or your children are injured as passengers in someone else's car, or even as a pedestrian.
• While there are four exceptions to limited tort, including being injured by a driver convicted of DUI, the best choice is to select full tort. Full tort costs a little more, but it could mean thousands of dollars to help you through a difficult time in your life if you are injured by a careless driver.

Uninsured/underinsured motorist protection is optional in Pennsylvania, but should be purchased to provide ease of mind for you and your family. This coverage protects you even if you are in a crash caused by a driver who is not insured or not adequately insured.

More than 1 in 13 vehicles on Pennsylvania highways have no insurance. If one of these people changes your life by causing a wreck, you need uninsured motorist coverage to compensate you for your pain and suffering. When a careless driver has minimum coverage, your life may be changed forever, but unless you have underinsured coverage, you may not be able to recover anything other than that person's minimum policy limits. Stacking is required to maximize your family's protection by letting you add the uninsured/underinsured coverage for each vehicle on your policy.

We recommend full tort coverage and stacked uninsured/underinsured coverage of $100,000 per person/$300,000 per occurrence.