Automobile, Commercial Liability, and Related Casualty Coverages
Personal auto policy
The PAP has four parts: A – Liability (BI and PD to others), B – Medical Payments, C – Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists, and D – Coverage for Damage to Your Auto (collision and other than collision/OTC). Tennessee requires liability limits of at least 25/50/25 and requires UM at the liability limits unless the insured rejects it in writing. Tennessee is a tort (at-fault) state, not a no-fault state.
Definitions do heavy lifting: you and family member; newly acquired auto (automatic coverage for a limited window, with broader coverage requiring notice); temporary substitute vehicle. OTC includes fire, theft, vandalism, glass, hail, flood, and animal strikes - hitting a deer is OTC, not collision. Typical exclusions: intentional damage, racing, using a vehicle as a public livery, business use of a pickup, and vehicles furnished for regular use.
Commercial auto and related lines
Commercial auto uses numbered symbols to designate covered autos (any auto, owned autos, hired autos, non-owned autos). Beyond that, know garage (dealer/repair exposures), truckers/motor carrier (MCS-90 endorsement for public liability), workers compensation (statutory benefits, employers liability), professional liability/E&O (claims-made, no coverage for intentional wrongdoing), and umbrella/excess limits.
Financial responsibility
Drivers must be able to show proof of financial responsibility after an accident or conviction; SR-22 filings certify that coverage is in force. Tennessee also permits a named driver exclusion on a policy.
Worked example: two-vehicle accident, insured at fault, $40,000 BI to one person and $20,000 PD to the other party, with 25/50/25 limits and a $500 collision deductible. Liability pays $25,000 (per-person cap) plus $20,000 PD; the insured's own collision damage is paid minus $500.
Traps: treating UM as optional without a written rejection, thinking collision covers a deer strike, and confusing split limits with a combined single limit.