More and more often these days, we take in new clients that are unaware of their uninsured motorist/underinsured motorist limit. In fact, most potential clients do not understand their insurance coverage. Unfortunately, many times we are the bearer of bad news that when they sue for damages, they will be very unhappy because their insurance agent neglected to tell them about the importance of uninsured motorist coverage.
We have previously done a blog about automobile insurance coverages so we won’t go into any other coverage than Uninsured Motorist today. This is becoming more important with more drivers not having liability insurance today.
YOU MUST PROTECT YOURSELF! This is how you do it:
- Always get the same limits of Uninsured Motorist coverage as liability coverage.
- NEVER sign anything rejecting Uninsured Motorist coverage.
- When applying for insurance on a website, make sure that they include uninsured motorist coverage in the quote. Many insurance companies are not including that coverage when you apply online. NEVER sign up for insurance on a website that doesn’t include Uninsured Motorist coverage.
HOW DOES UNINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE WORK?
When a motorist who caused the incident does not have liability insurance, the only option you have is to make a claim with your insurance company. The coverage you use to do that is Uninsured Motorist. That is why it’s important to have the highest limit possible. (You can only have the same limit or less than your liability coverage). NEVER GET LESS! Many insurance companies and agents do not tell you this and will try and sell you less coverage, or in some instances, have you waive the coverage. Fire that agent immediately.
When a motorist who causes the incident does not have sufficient liability insurance, you can make a claim with your insurance carrier for the difference between your coverage and the limit of the offending driver. For example, if the driver has $30,000 in liability insurance and you have $100,000 in uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance, you can make a claim against your carrier for $70,000 if your injuries warrant such a recovery.
The moral is: FINANCIALLY PROTECT YOURSELF AS MUCH AS YOU WOULD PROTECT A TOTAL STRANGER IN THE EVENT OF AN ACCIDENT.