Auto Liability Split Limits
Separate the ceilings.
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Texas’s Office of Public Insurance Counsel explains separate auto-liability limits for each injured person, injuries per accident, and property damage. They are not one interchangeable pool.
Fictional limits: $100,000 per injured person, $300,000 for bodily injury per accident, and $50,000 for property damage. Assume established liability, covered damages and no other insurance, exclusions or defense costs.
One accident causes $200,000 injury damages for one person, $40,000 for another, and $80,000 property damage.
Injury payments are capped at $100,000 + $40,000 = $140,000. The $300,000 accident ceiling does not override the first person’s cap. Property coverage adds $50,000, not $80,000.
Damages total $320,000; modeled insurance pays $190,000, leaving $130,000 outside these limits. Unused injury capacity cannot fill the property shortfall.
Separately, four people with $100,000 injury damages each reach the accident ceiling: injury payments cannot exceed $300,000, although each fits the person limit. This does not allocate payments among claimants.
Confirm limits and coverage with your insurer. These invented figures are not required minimums, a claim decision or adequate-coverage advice.


