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There are two common types of liability coverage offered on auto insurance policies. I’ll explain the differences so you can determine which coverage is best for you.
What is Combined Single Limit Liability Insurance?
Combined Single Limit (CSL) Liability Insurance is the maximum dollar limit the insurance company will pay including bodily injury liability and property damage coverage. Commonly offered at these limits:
$100,000 CSL
$300,000 CSL
$500,000 CSL
These are the total liability coverage limits (bodily injury and property damage) for a single accident. Here’s an example to help understand how combined single limit works:
- You’re at fault in an accident where you severely injure one occupant with bodily injury of $150,000, the second occupant sustains bodily injury of $25,000, and cause $125,000 damage to an exotic car.
Total liability in this scenario is $300,000.
If you selected a policy with $100,000 CSL, you exceeded the limit by $200,000.
If you selected $300,000 CSL you're at the limit.
If you selected $500,000 CSL you’re $200,000 under the limit.
How is Split Limit Liability Insurance different from Combined Single Limit?
Split Limit Liability is the more commonly used type of liability coverage. The limits are broken down differently than Combined Single Limit. With split limit coverage there are multiple limits that apply per accident. They are: per person bodily injury limit, per incident bodily injury limit, and property damage limit. Commonly offered at these limits (in thousands):
30/60/10 (Minnesota State Minimum Limit)
50/100/50
100/300/100
250/500/100
The first number is the bodily injury per person number, the second is the bodily injury per incident number, and the last is the property damage liability number. Let’s use the same example as above and assume you selected 100/300/100 liability coverage limits.
- You’re at fault in an accident where you severely injure one occupant with bodily injury of $150,000, the second occupant sustains bodily injury of $25,000, and cause $125,000 damage to an exotic car.
Total liability in this scenario is $300,000. However the per person limit of $100,000 is exceeded by $50,000 on the first occupant and the property damage limit of $100,000 is exceeded by $25,000. Policy limits are exceeded by $75,000.
Split limit coverage is more complicated than combined single limit. How much personal asset protection do you need? It’s important to know how your coverage limits work to make sure you choose the right amount of coverage.