Coverage Basics
How a Louisiana auto policy actually works.
An auto policy is really a stack of separate coverages, each answering a different question. Here's the plain-language version of what each layer does, how Louisiana law shapes it, and how we size it.
Liability: the coverage that protects everyone else, and you
Liability is the legally required core. Bodily injury liability pays medical bills, lost wages, and legal judgments for people you injure. Property damage liability pays for the cars and property you damage. When a claim exceeds your limits, you're personally on the hook for the rest, and in Louisiana's at-fault system that exposure is real: a judgment can reach savings, home equity, and future income.
Fault can also be split. Under Louisiana's 2025 reforms, a person found 51% or more at fault can't recover damages at all, and anyone below that has their recovery reduced by their share of fault. Our rule of thumb stays simple: your liability limits should reflect what you have to lose, not what the state minimum requires. Many households look at limits like 100/300/100 or higher, and families with meaningful assets should talk with us about an umbrella policy, which adds a layer of protection over home and auto.
No Pay, No Play: why every car needs to stay insured
Louisiana's "No Pay, No Play" law limits what an uninsured driver can collect after a crash, even one they didn't cause. Historically, a driver without required coverage couldn't recover the first $15,000 of bodily injury or the first $25,000 of property damage. Those thresholds were raised to $100,000 under the 2025 reforms. Letting a policy lapse, even on a second car that mostly sits, can cost far more than the premium. Driving uninsured can also bring license suspension, impoundment, registration revocation and plate cancellation.
The 2025 reforms brought a few other changes worth knowing: no surcharge for a first coverage lapse, no premium increase solely for turning 65, and a ban on using social media or texting while driving.
Collision and comprehensive: the coverages for your own car
Liability never pays for your own vehicle. That's the job of collision and comprehensive, together often called "full coverage." Collision handles crash damage, whether you hit another car, a pole, or a ditch on a dark bayou road. Comprehensive handles nearly everything else: flood water, wind, hail, theft, vandalism, glass, fire, falling branches, and animals. In South Louisiana, hurricanes and street flooding are the big ones. Ida in 2021 and Francine in 2024 both left flooded and crushed cars across Terrebonne and Lafourche.
Both come with a deductible, the amount you pay before coverage kicks in, and the deductible is your main pricing lever. Raising it from $500 to $1,000 may trim the premium if you have savings to cover the difference. On an older car worth a few thousand dollars, it's also fair to ask whether collision still earns its premium at all. We'll run that math with you honestly.
Uninsured motorist: the coverage for other people's bad decisions
You can do everything right and still get hit by someone carrying no insurance, or too little. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage steps into the at-fault driver's shoes and pays for your injuries. Louisiana requires your insurer to offer it at your liability limits, and you have to sign the LDI form to reject it or lower it. Plenty of drivers carry only the 15/30/25 minimum, so we treat UM as essential and match it to your own liability limits. UM property damage, with its $250 deductible, is worth a look too.
The add-ons: useful, but only where they fit
The remaining pieces are situational, and this is where a real agent earns their keep instead of a checkout page upselling everything:
- Medical payments pays medical bills for you and your passengers regardless of fault. Louisiana doesn't use PIP, so this is the coverage that fills that role.
- Rental reimbursement pays for a rental car while yours is in the shop. Cheap, and worth it for anyone who can't be without a car for two weeks, especially after a storm when body shops back up.
- Roadside assistance covers tows, jump starts, and lockouts. Skip it if you already have roadside help through another program or your vehicle's warranty.
- Rideshare coverage addresses Uber, Lyft, and delivery driving that personal policies generally exclude. Ask us about rideshare coverage availability before the app goes on. Driving for your own company is different again; ask about business coverage.
None of this needs to be memorized. Bring us your declarations page, tell us how you actually use your cars, and we'll walk the stack together, line by line, in plain English.
