Bodily Injury Liability in Texas

Injury dollars, split two ways

The Texas Department of Insurance auto guide says liability pays to repair the other driver’s car if you caused the accident, and it pays the other driver’s and the passengers’ medical bills and some other expenses. The minimum it describes is $30,000 of coverage for injuries per person, up to a total of $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. That package is called 30/60/25. The $25,000 is not a bodily injury limit. It is the property number, and it has its own page. Our 30/60/25 guide is the whole floor. Here the point is how the two injury numbers interact.

Per person means one injured person’s claim stops at the first number, even if the accident total has room left. Per accident means everyone injured in that crash shares the second number. Two people with serious bills can use up $60,000 without either of them reaching a higher per-person limit you did not buy. TDI’s guide says the minimum might be too low in a multi-vehicle crash, and that if you do not have enough coverage you might pay the rest yourself. The other driver could sue you.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners describes bodily injury liability as coverage for medical expenses of other people injured in an accident the insured driver caused. The Insurance Information Institute says it applies to injuries that you, the designated driver, or the policyholder cause to someone else, and that a serious accident can become a lawsuit for a large sum. Both are describing the same job: other people’s bodies, not your own.

More than the hospital bill

TDI’s guide includes, in the list of what most policies cover, car repair, lost wages, and medical and funeral bills to the other driver and passengers if you cause an accident. The injury side of that sentence is bodily injury liability. Lost wages and funeral bills are why “medical payments” is the wrong nickname for this coverage. Your own medical bills are a different section. TDI describes medical payments as paying your and your passengers’ bills, and personal injury protection as similar, with lost wages, and says Texas policies include personal injury protection unless you reject it in writing. Those coverages pay toward your side of the car. Bodily injury liability pays toward the people you hurt.

TDI also lists your attorneys’ fees if you are sued because of an accident among the things most policies cover. The Institute says it is important to have enough liability insurance because you may be sued. Defense and damages are related, and a limit that is exhausted is a limit that is gone. Read whether the amount on the declarations is the cap on damages, and ask how defense costs are handled, instead of assuming the lawyer is free after the limit is spent.

Who is insured, and whose car it is

TDI says most policies cover you, your family, and people driving your car with your permission. Ask who is excluded. The Institute’s basic auto article says you and family members listed on the policy are also covered when driving someone else’s car with their permission. Its basics article says the policy covers you and other family members on the policy, whether in your car or someone else’s with permission, and that it covers someone not on the policy who drives your car with your consent. Permission is the hinge. A driver you did not allow is a different claim.

TDI’s guide describes a borrowed car in a specific order. If you cause an accident in a borrowed car, the owner’s insurance pays the claim. If the owner has no insurance, or not enough for the damages and injuries you caused, your insurance pays. If you do not own a car but borrow often, TDI says you can buy a nonowner liability policy that pays for damages and injuries you cause to other people. It does not pay for your injuries or for damage to the car you are driving. A household that shares keys needs this order written down before the crash, not reconstructed after it.

The same guide says most policies cover accidents while you are driving in other states and in Canada, and that Mexico does not recognize American auto policies. A short trip across the river is not “the policy follows the car” unless you bought coverage that actually applies there. TDI says some companies offer endorsements for short trips, and that the coverage might not meet Mexico’s requirements. If you are going, ask before you cross. Do not treat a weekend in another U.S. state and a weekend in Mexico as the same sentence.

What this liability does not pick up

TDI’s chart of what most policies do not cover includes accidents while you are driving for a ride-hailing service or delivering food or other items for a fee, accidents in a car you could use regularly that is not yours, such as a company car, and damages you caused intentionally. The Institute’s basics article says a personal auto policy covers personal driving, including commuting, errands, and trips, and that it will not cover commercial use such as delivering pizzas. It also says personal auto insurance generally will not cover ride-sharing such as Uber or Lyft, though some insurers sell a supplemental product. Bodily injury liability on a personal policy is for personal driving. A shift on an app is a question you ask the company before the shift, not after an injury.

Intentional harm is on TDI’s “most policies don’t cover” list. A crash you meant to cause is not a bodily injury claim you can file your way out of. Racing is on that same chart. Read the exclusions rather than arguing about the label after the loss.

Buying above the floor

The Institute’s article on how much auto coverage you need says state minimums are a start and that accidents cost more than those limits. If you are legally responsible for bills above the insurance, you pay the difference, and those costs can wipe you out. The article says to talk with an agent about higher liability limits, and to consider an umbrella or excess policy that pays when the underlying coverage is exhausted. It says those policies typically cost between $200 and $300 a year for a million dollars of coverage, and that if the home and auto are with the same company you should price the umbrella there first.

A separate Institute article on umbrellas says most insurers want about $250,000 of auto liability and about $300,000 of homeowners liability before they sell the umbrella. The $200 to $300 price and the $250,000 underlying figure are the Institute’s descriptions, not a Texas rate. Our umbrella guide is the excess policy. The bodily injury limit on the auto declarations is what has to be large enough for the umbrella company to accept it. Raising only the property-damage number does not satisfy an underlying-auto requirement aimed at liability as a whole. Ask which number they want to see.

TDI’s saving-money section says each company decides its own discounts, including a good driving record, multiple cars, and other policies with the same company. None of those discounts change the fact that a $30,000 per-person limit is still $30,000 when the bill arrives. A cheaper premium on a minimum limit is not the same purchase as a higher limit.

After the crash

TDI’s claim steps are practical for an injury loss. Get the other driver’s name, address, phone, plate, and insurance information. Get witnesses. Call the police if anyone is hurt. Note time, place, weather, and take pictures. Tell your company as soon as you can, because most companies have deadlines. If you were injured, that is your own claim under medical payments, personal injury protection, or health coverage, not a reason to ignore the people in the other car. Their injury claim is the one that spends your bodily injury limit.

If you believe the other driver was at fault and their company will not pay your car, TDI says you need collision on your own policy to file there. That sentence is about your repairs. It is not a bodily injury instruction. Do not use this coverage to fix your vehicle. If their limits are too small for your injuries, TDI points you to your own personal injury protection, medical payments, or uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. That is the mirror image of this page: someday you are the injured person looking at someone else’s $30,000. Buying a higher bodily injury limit is how you avoid being the driver who left them there.

Texas Insurance Resources can compare bodily injury limits with licensed agents. We do not decide fault and we do not pay the other driver’s medical bills. Bring the declarations page so the two injury numbers are visible.

Sources

The 30/60/25 split, who is covered, borrowed cars, Mexico, intentional and ride-hailing exclusions, and the claim steps come from the Texas Department of Insurance auto insurance guide, the one state source used here. The description of bodily injury liability, permission, and personal-versus-commercial use comes from Insurance Information Institute articles. The medical-expense description of bodily injury comes from the NAIC auto insurance topic. Umbrella price and underlying-limit notes come from two Institute articles and are national descriptions, not a Texas rate filing.

• Texas Department of Insurance, auto insurance guide
• Insurance Information Institute, what a basic auto policy covers
• Insurance Information Institute, auto insurance basics
• Insurance Information Institute, how much auto coverage do I need
• Insurance Information Institute, umbrella liability
• NAIC, auto insurance