Driving presents a risk of accidents all on its own, even for the most careful drivers. This risk increases when you have passengers in the car, as severe injuries and liability concerns may be at the back of your mind. Unfortunately, many people believe that liability insurance covers their passengers and fail to get the coverage they need to protect everyone in their vehicle in case of an accident.

What Does Liability Insurance Cover?

In short, bodily injury liability car insurance does not cover passengers. This insurance, required by most states in the U.S., instead covers other drivers, their passengers and pedestrians in case they are injured while the insured driver is operating their vehicle. Liability also concerns lawsuits the driver may face after causing injuries in an accident with the insured vehicle. It does not cover anyone inside the vehicle, however.

Instead, you will need medical payments coverage or personal injury protection.

Medical Payments Coverage vs Personal Injury Protection

There is little difference between these two types of coverage aside from where they are available. Both help cover medical bills you and your passengers may face after an accident, no matter who is at fault. For example, if you cause an accident and it results in injuries, this insurance will still cover everyone inside your vehicle.

Medical payment coverage is the most common in the U.S., although it is not required. In states where personal injury protection is available, it is frequently required. Personal injury protection offers a lot of the same coverage while taking it a step further and offering certain benefits such as wage replacement in case an injured passenger is no longer able to work due to their injuries.

Does Full Coverage Car Insurance Cover Passengers?

Along with liability as required by the state, full coverage car insurance policies also include medical payments coverage or personal injury protection. Full coverage car insurance simply refers to the highest amount of coverage you can have on a single vehicle and is recommended for most drivers.

Even if medical payments coverage is not required by your state or your vehicle’s dealership, it is crucial for making sure that you and your passengers receive help with medical bills after an accident. Be sure to speak with your insurance agent and insure your vehicle with the coverage it needs to keep everyone on the road safe.

Car insurance payment options at Root

Want to change how or when you pay for your policy? We make it easy. At Root, we make car insurance that’s all about you. We put you in control of your price by making driving behavior the number one factor in your rate, and we make managing your policy simple, putting everything from updating coverages to paying for your policy conveniently in the Root Insurance app.
But to truly put you in control of your Root experience, we’re listening—and one important thing our drivers asked for is more flexibility around payments.

So, we’ve done just that.

Is it better to pay car insurance in full or monthly?

When you get a Root policy, you can choose if you want to pay monthly or for your 6-month term upfront. Choosing to pay monthly for car insurance can help by breaking up your premium into smaller amounts that you pay on the same day of each month. Or you can pay for the entire 6-month term upfront and get a discount on your rate—a pretty nice perk.

But what if you change your mind? What makes sense for you today might not work for you 6 months from now, so we give you options to make the best choices for you.

If you pay monthly, you can choose to pay off the remaining premium (outstanding balance) on your policy term at any time. Even better? You’ll get a discount on the balance.

If you paid for the full 6-month term, you can choose to switch to monthly payments for the next term, rather than paying in full again.

Changing my payment date

Sometimes, you just need to change your payment date for a month. At Root, you can change your payment draft date for a particular month to be up to 5 days earlier or up to 5 days later than originally scheduled. You can make that change conveniently in the Root app, under Payments.

How do I pay for my policy?

We provide several options to make paying for your policy easier for you.

The app: With just a few taps, you can add your preferred payment method and when you want to pay right in the app. Change how and when you pay for your policy in the app anytime.

Automatic payments: All payments in the app are automatically withdrawn from your account on your scheduled payment date, so you don’t have to worry about remembering to pay on time.

Payment methods: You can choose to use a credit card or ApplePay to pay for your policy. Need to change your payment method? You can do that right in the app.

At Root, all of our car insurance payment options are designed to provide ease and flexibility, so you can always make the right choice for you—each month, and each policy term.

Ready to see if Root car insurance is the right choice for you? Start your quote and see if your good driving could save you hundreds.

At Root, we believe car insurance should be fair.

Our mission at Root is to unbreak the car insurance industry one policy at a time. As a company, we put a lot of thought and focus into what it means to offer fair auto insurance, whether we’re talking fair plans, fair pricing, or fairer risk assessment.
A lot of traditional car insurance companies base your rate on factors that have nothing to do with your driving—from where you live to your credit score, marital status, and age. That doesn’t seem fair.

And although Root takes these factors into consideration when pricing your insurance—we use several standard factors that are mathematically predictive of risk—we look first and foremost at how you actually drive, using your test drive through the Root app.

That’s because your driving habits are the most fair and reliable indicator of whether you’re a good driver, and therefore, a good risk. Do you tailgate other drivers, or text and drive? If you’re unsafe behind the wheel, that matters to us. Taking the Root test drive is easy; changing your demographics is not.

During the test drive, our app measures your day-to-day driving behaviors. From that data, we calculate your driving score. Your score is the main factor that decides your Root car insurance rate.

So, if you’re a safe driver, you could save more at Root, especially when compared with traditional insurance companies that don’t take how you drive into consideration.

Good drivers deserve better rates. That’s fair.

It’s not fair for you to pay more for bad drivers.
Our technology empowers us to offer customers fair car insurance. We use your test drive to determine if you’re a good driver—the only kind of driver we insure.

That’s because the worst 30% of drivers are responsible for nearly 45% of all accident costs.[1] This means that the bottom tier of bad drivers are responsible for the lion’s share of accident expenses—and it’s why traditional car insurance can get so expensive.

We don’t insure high-risk drivers, and that decreases the accidents we have to pay for by almost 45%. When we remove the worst 30% of drivers from the equation, fewer accidents happen, and we pay less in claims. That savings is passed onto our customers, because they aren’t paying for accidents caused by bad drivers.

Paying less for your car insurance by not paying for the careless driving of others—that’s fair

Compare Car Insurance Rates & Quotes

How to Compare Car Insurance Rates

Comparing car insurance rates looks simple enough, but looks can be deceiving. Getting a few quotes and comparing the monthly premiums for each is just the starting point. When you compare car insurance quotes, you need to make sure you’re comparing policies that offer the same amount of coverage. After all, you don’t want to choose the cheapest car insurance quote only to find that it doesn’t provide the protection you need. When comparing auto insurance quotes, you’ll also want to take any available discounts you may qualify for into account to make sure you’re comparing the best rate from each company.

Compare Car Insurance Rates by Company

Different car insurance companies can offer very different rates. Of course, the rate isn’t the only factor you should take into account when choosing a car insurance company. A cut-rate car insurance company isn’t a good choice if it doesn’t offer the coverage you need. However, the most expensive company isn’t always better than one that’s cheaper. Check out our car insurance rankings to find the Best Car Insurance Companies and compare car insurance rates. Then, drill down into our car insurance company reviews to find the right auto insurance for you.

Compare Car Insurance Rates by State

State laws play a big role in how much you pay for car insurance, as most states require a minimum level of coverage before you can hit the road. Different car insurance companies can charge different rates within the same state too. We’ve created state-by-state guides to help you find the best and cheapest car insurance in your state, as well as to help you understand your state’s car insurance requirements.