What is the Difference Between Full Tort and Limited Tort

When purchasing car insurance, it is extremely important to understand why you should always choose full tort.

Limited Tort

While limited tort is less expensive than full tort it also provides for serious limitations in your ability to recover, should you be involved in a car accident. If you are injured in a car crash in Pennsylvania, and you have limited tort insurance, you cannot receive compensation for the pain and suffering you have experienced as a result of that accident.  It makes no difference whether you are responsible for the accident.

There are some exceptions, but they require an uphill battle and are only available under very limited circumstances. The most common exception involves the nature of your injury.

Full Tort

If you choose full tort, there is no limitation to your ability to seek compensation, including pain and suffering, for injuries you suffer in an accident caused by another person. Yes, full tort costs more, but in the end, the severe limitations on your right to recover in an accident are so great under limited tort, that the difference in price is worth it.

What about New Jersey?

New Jersey has a limitation called verbal threshold. With verbal threshold, as in Pennsylvania, your rights to seek damages for pain and suffering are substantially limited unless  you meet specific categories. Those categories include:

• Death
• Dismemberment
• Significant disfigurement or scarring
• Loss of a fetus
• Displaced fracture
• Permanent injury (a doctor must be willing to certify this in writing)

As in Pennsylvania, for your protection, you should make certain you do not have verbal threshold limitations to your auto insurance.

Learn More About Purchasing Auto Insurance in Pennsylvania

For more on what you need to know when you purchase automobile insurance in Pennsylvania, watch Jeff Lowenthal’s video.