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If I am at fault in an accident with a very expensive super car (for example, a Ferrari Enzo, $1 million), am I really liable for all repair costs? For example, I have $100k in property damage liability insurance, and the repairs cost $300k. Am I really personally liable for $200k because some rich guy drives around in a priceless (in my opinion) car?

If you are at-fault and damage someone's property whether it be a super expensive motor vehicle like a Ferrari Enzo or a house, you normally can be held personally responsible for the costs that exceed your Liability limits on your car insurance policy.

If you aren't the responsible party, who is? Driving is a privilege, not a right. What if you are in an accident, you accidentally drive through the lawn, hit a water fountain, and then you hit a $1,00,000 house and damage it? Is that different than if you hit a $10,000 mobile home and damage it? Just because the person decided to have a $1,000,000 house and the damages are higher than if you hit a $10,000 house, you are still responsible for your actions.

State liability laws differ so in your state there may be a limit to what someone could sue you for if your auto insurance Liability limits were exceeded due to you crashing into a supercar. In general if you damage or injure another party than if your limits are surpassed by the cost of repairs or totaling out a vehicle or if you have severely injured someone and their medical expenses exceed your Bodily Injury Liability limit, you are left open to being personally held responsible for the amount over your limit so that the person you damaged can be "made whole."

Supercars such as a Ferrari Enzo may seem priceless to you and may cause you grief and financial strife if you wrecked into one but the likelihood of you doing so is pretty slim. Owners of supercars do not drive these vehicles daily normally and so they are not on the roadways often. Also the Enzo had a limited run of only 400 vehicles so you are not likely to be around one to have an accident with it on a typical day. But if you did happen to hit one, than in general you could be held responsible for costs that exceed your car insurance limits. As the at fault driver you would be responsible for putting the person back in the position they were in before the accident and if you hit an Enzo that would mean repairing the vehicle back to how it was before you hit it normally.

There are others ways to cause over $100,000 worth of damage such as crashing into several cars or losing control and crashing into a house or store. With bodily injuries if you severely hurt one or more people a limit of $100,000 could easily be reached. So it is always important to have as much Liability coverage on your vehicle as you can afford to for situations whether it be severely injuring another driver or being in an accident with a supercar.

If you want to know more about your state's liability laws, if there is a limit to what you can be sued for, etc contact a lawyer in your state that is familiar with this type of law.

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This car insurance answer was last updated 2:44 PM Nov-08.
This claims question was asked 3:10 AM Oct-29-2009.
David requested this car insurance help from CarInsurance.com experts.
Rated 10 out of 10 based on 3 votes.
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