THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING UNINSURED/UNDERINSURED MOTORIST (UM) INSURANCE COVERAGE
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM) coverage protects you if you are in a car accident with another driver who does not have enough insurance to cover your injuries. If you are injured in a car crash caused by a motorist who only has the state-required insurance coverage, inadequate additional coverage, or no insurance coverage at all, UM coverage may be your only option for financial recompense. If you’re in a car crash with an uninsured or underinsured driver, you might be facing a court struggle. Without insurance, it will be difficult for you to collect compensation for your injuries and vehicle repairs.
In this blog, we will discuss the importance of having uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance coverage in Florida.
Importance of Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Insurance Coverage
There are three main types of automobile insurance available in a Florida accident: Personal Injury Protection (PIP), Bodily Injury (BI) and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM/UIM). Currently, the only insurance required in Florida for drivers to maintain is Personal Injury Protection (PIP), which is an insurance coverage that will cover your own medical bills up to $10,000 and only 60% of your lost wages, regardless of who is at fault in the accident.
Once your medical bills exceed $10,000 (and they easily do), you are now responsible for medical expenses unless the party at fault carries Bodily Injury (BI) insurance on their own policy which you can claim.
However, BI insurance is NOT required in Florida, and many drivers don’t have it in an effort to keep their payments as low as possible. Florida is notorious for this, with the sixth-highest percentage of uninsured drivers in the US. Most drivers carry only the required PIP coverage.
What this means is that if the driver who hit you does not carry BI, or if their policy limits are insufficient to cover your medical bills, you are now on the hook for those bills. So, for example, let’s say you were in a car accident and incurred $50,000 in medical expenses as well as lost pay due to time off. If the individual who caused the accident has no BI insurance or has very little coverage, you may have to pay some or all of the $50,000 to cover your expenses.
However, if you elect to carry UM coverage on your own policy, your insurance company will take the place of the at fault driver and cover you for these damages.
If the irresponsible driver’s insurance coverage is insufficient to cover all of the damage they cause, UIM coverage offers insurance coverage.
UM and UIM can be covered for the following:
- Both current and future medical expenses
- Lost income/wages
- Pain and suffering
- Future earnings potential loss
In Florida, UM/UIM may be purchased as a single policy, but you can usually add it to your coverage for a relatively low cost. You can elect to have the policy stacked or un-stacked. With an un-stacked policy, recovery is limited to the policy limits for that vehicle. With a stacked policy, however, you have a policy limit per insured vehicle which can then be combined for purposes of a claim. For example, if you have 3 vehicles in your household with UM coverage limits of $50,000 each, in the event of an accident with an uninsured driver in which you now need to make a claim against your own UM coverage, you now have $150,000 in which you can claim ($50,000 x 3).
Injured parties who decline UM coverage under their insurance plans are frequently left with little to no recompense for their serious injuries and losses caused by an uninsured driver’s recklessness.
Contact a Miami Car Accident Attorney
Many victims encounter financial difficulties as a result of medical costs and lost earning ability when they learn that, while having a strong personal injury case, the defendant (i.e., the at-fault party in the accident) does not have the insurance resources to pay their claim. Many of these financial burdens can be avoided if the uninsured motorist policy purchased by the injured driver is appropriate.
In Florida, failing to keep uninsured motorist coverage may save you money in the short term, but it might cripple you in the case of a major accident. However, if you find yourself in a scenario with an uninsured or underinsured motorist, we can assist you in weighing your choices. An experienced attorney is crucial in dealing with insurance companies who are famous for not wanting to pay you. The trauma and hardships of an accident, especially when you’re not at fault, are hard enough to deal with. The insurance company will make it harder.
If you are ever the victim of an accident, Jaime “Mr. 786Abogado” has more than twenty years of experience helping clients receive the maximim compensation for their injuries.
