If you injure someone in a car accident, bodily injury coverage helps to pay their medical costs. It can also cover their lost wages if they can’t work after the crash.

Although this coverage won't pay your own medical expenses, it applies to most other people involved in the accident, including:

• Other drivers and their passengers.

• Pedestrians.

• Passengers in your own car, if they're not from the same household.

Bodily injury coverage is necessary for many reasons, and it’s legally required in most states. It can also cover legal expenses from a lawsuit if you injure someone in a crash, provided your policy includes enough liability insurance coverage.

Keep in mind this coverage won't pay for any repairs or property damage, whether it’s for your vehicle or the other driver's. In fact, bodily injury coverage won’t pay any of your immediate expenses. This means you’re on the hook to pay for any car repairs along with your own medical expenses and any lost income unless your auto insurance policy includes other coverage.

What bodily injury liability covers

Bodily injury liability coverage can pay for another person's:

• Medical expenses, such as emergency care, hospital fees, follow-up visits and medical equipment like crutches.

• Lost income, if they can’t work as a result of the accident.

• Funeral costs, if injuries from the accident are fatal.

• Pain and suffering, if the injured driver or passengers have long-lasting emotional trauma or pain.

It can also cover your own legal fees and legal counsel if the injured party decides to sue you.

Bodily injury liability coverage limits

When you buy bodily injury coverage, you’ll see two numbers that refer to your coverage limits, such as “100/300.” These numbers correspond to a per-person and per-accident limit, respectively.

For example, let’s say you buy a policy with bodily injury limits of 100/300. You then cause an accident that results in the following expenses for injuries for the three people in the other car:

• Michael: $30,000

• Anne: $40,000

• Chris: $110,000

Total expenses: $180,000*

*Based on average cost of motor-vehicle injuries according to the National Safety Council

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This is how you can interpret your insurance coverage and how much you’ll have to pay out of pocket:

Bodily injury limit per person. The first number, 100, is your bodily injury per-person payout limit. Your policy will not pay for any one person’s injuries if the cost is greater than this number. In this case, both Michael and Anne have medical expenses under $100,000, so your insurance will cover all of their expenses. However, because Chris’ medical costs are over $100,000, you’ll have to pay the rest of his expenses on your own, in this case, $10,000.

Bodily injury limit per accident. The second number, 300, is your per-accident limit, or the maximum amount your policy will pay for all injuries in any one accident. This number remains the same no matter how many people are injured in a crash. As you can see above, the total medical expenses in this case are $180,000. Your policy will cover $300,000 per accident, so it may seem like your insurance can cover the entire accident. But your bodily injury limit per person still applies. Even though these expenses won’t exceed the per-accident limit, you're still over the per-person limit for Chris.

How much do you owe? For this accident, you'll need to pay $10,000 out of pocket in total. Since this is a liability insurance claim, you won’t need to pay a deductible.