LIFESTYLE NEWS - In this day and age, everything from injuries to assets are more expensive to mend or replace. This has made liability cover an important insurance consideration that no individual or business can – or should – be operating without.

While there are many liabilities to consider, and several different insurance products to address them, here we look at two in more detail – vehicle liability and personal legal liability.

Understanding vehicle liability
This cover is usually automatically included under the motor section of your policy, up to the limit indicated in your policy schedule and subject to certain clearly specified terms and conditions.

Vehicle liability cover provides cover for claims you are legally liable for to a third party. This includes claims arising from accidents that happen when:
• using your vehicle
• towing your vehicle, trailer or caravan
• loading a load onto, or off of your vehicle

Even if your car is not worth much (perhaps you have an old car that you love, but based on its market value, it doesn’t seem worth insuring), you still need third party vehicle liability. Imagine if you damage someone else’s car, particularly an expensive luxury vehicle. The financial consequences can be really costly, and this liability cover will protect you against such claims.

Additional benefits
As part of your comprehensive vehicle cover (and subject to the terms and conditions of your policy), cover is extended to include any person using your vehicle with your express permission, who then becomes legally liable to a third party.

In addition, you are also covered against liabilities arising when using a vehicle that is not your own, and is not reflected in your policy schedule. Again, this is subject to any specific terms and conditions stated in your policy wording, and excludes any vehicles leased or hired to you, or which you are in the process of buying in terms of any credit agreement.

Understanding personal legal liability
Legal liability cover provides protection against legal liabilities arising out of proven negligence that results in:
• the accidental death, bodily injury or illness of any person
• the accidental physical loss of, or damage to, tangible property of any person

This could include if someone injures themselves at your home and tries to claim for medical damages against you.

Additional benefits
Various value-added cover extensions may be available, such as tenants’ liability. If you are a tenant, this compensates you for liabilities to the owner of the building due to damage caused by a range of events (specified in your policy wording). This could be damage to the building itself, or to its fixtures and fittings. An example may be accidentally flooding the bathroom, which could cause damage to the flooring throughout the home you are staying in.

Another example is liability cover against wrongful arrest. This includes any assault related to a wrongful arrest as well as associated legal costs (as agreed to by the insurer).

Are you covered?