This article explains the wisdom of having substantial
uninsured motorist coverage protection on your automobile insurance policy. The
good news is that such coverage is relatively inexpensive to purchase.
Purchase as much uninsured motorist (“UM") coverage on
your automobile policy as you can reasonably afford.
What UM Protects:
Uninsured Motorist coverage protects you and your family for losses and
damages caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver.
Why You Should Have Substantial UM Coverage: There are a number of reasons to buy UM
coverage or increase your UM coverage.
1. Inexpensive: Generally speaking, UM coverage is
extremely or relatively inexpensive.
2. Protection in Serious Collision: UM coverage provides
good protection if you are significantly injured in a vehicular
collision. For example, if you become unable to work and are unable earn
money for a long period of time due to another uninsured motorist’s negligent
driving, UM coverage would pay such provable losses as well as for other
damages.
3. Protection as a Pedestrian: You may even utilize
UM coverage benefits if you or a family member, as a pedestrian, are struck by
an uninsured or underinsured driver.
4. Hit-and-Run Protection: UM coverage applies to
hit-and-run collisions. If you or your
vehicle is struck by a hit-and-run driver, report the loss immediately to law
enforcement. Additionally, report the loss immediately to your insurance
company. By so doing, you will be sure qualify to utilize the UM
coverage. Review your policy regarding conditions for using UM coverage
in a hit-and-run accident.
5. Underinsured Motorist Protection (UIM): If the
negligent driver is insured, but does not have enough insurance to cover your
losses, UM coverage (if the UM coverage amount is higher than the negligent
driver’s liability coverage amount), will provide additional coverage for your
losses. For example, if you have a $100,000 UM policy, and the negligent
driver has a $25,000.00 liability policy, you have $75,000.00 of potential UM
coverage on the claim. Please note that, depending on your policy and/or
what state you reside in, the coverage formula may be different than what is
stated above.
Consult with your insurance agent. Talk to your agent about how much you can or
should raise your UM coverage if you already have it. If you don’t yet have uninsured motorist coverage,
talk to your agent about obtaining it.
Insurance policies may differ. Each UM policy from each insurance provider
may be different. Such differences may
affect, modify, or, in some cases, not cover one or more of the areas that have
been discussed above. Therefore,
determine what the policy covers and excludes by asking your insurance agent
and by reading the policy.
Situations exist where uninsured motorist coverage might
not be necessary. Uninsured motorist
coverage may overlap with other types of insurance coverage that you already
have, for example, medical insurance, disability insurance, personal injury
protection (PIP) in “no fault" states, and others). Therefore, you need to assess whether or not
UM is necessary or worth the additional expense. Again, I recommend that you
discuss these factors with your insurance agent.
My Numerous Experiences:
In my experience as a California
lawyer, the benefit of UM protection far exceeds its cost. I have
personally represented many clients who, due to having limited UM coverage,
recovered far less money than they were entitled to. Further, I have been
contacted by quite a number of persons who did not have UM coverage, were
seriously injured by an uninsured driver and, as a result, suffered significant
financial loss.
Injured With No UM Coverage: If you injured due to the negligence of an
uninsured motorist, and you didn’t have UM coverage, contact an attorney at law
anyway. An attorney may, in some cases,
be able to discover other sources of recovery. However, oftentimes, a
lawyer will not discover alternative insurance or other recovery sources.
In such a case, the failure to purchase UM coverage may result in no recovery
or a severely diminished recovery for your losses. Therefore, the wise
choice in most cases is to purchase as much UM coverage as you can reasonably
afford!
Factual Example: A
husband, wife, and their two children are traveling in their car to the beach
for a relaxing day of fun and sun.
Suddenly, and without warning, their car is broadsided in an
intersection at high speed by a large sedan which ran a red light. The driver of the large sedan is unemployed,
uninsured, and has few assets. Both the
husband and wife receive serious injuries.
Both of them are unable to work for more than one year. The two
children received serious injuries as well.
In this case, with adequate UM coverage, this family
would be entitled to have their losses paid under the UM policy. Without
adequate UM coverage, and depending on what other types of insurance this
family have, this scenario could result in financial catastrophe.
Summary: Uninsured motorist provides protection for you
and your family against uninsured drivers, underinsured drivers, and
hit-and-run drivers. UM even covers
automobile versus pedestrian collisions.
With adequate coverage amounts, it will provide needed financial
protection when injuries are serious, disabling and prolonged. Uninsured
motorist coverage is inexpensive to purchase.
Depending on the laws of your state, the policy of the insurance
carrier, and the other types of coverage you have, UM coverage may provide you
with protection that you might not otherwise have.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is
informational only. The subject matter and applicable law in all legal areas is
in a constant state of change. Laws and
insurance coverage vary from state to state.
No legal advice is given and no attorney/client or other relationship is
established or intended.
Copyright 2006.
All rights reserved.
About the author: Matthew B. Tozer is an attorney at law
located in southern California.
His website is http://www.TozerLaw.com.
Other informative and practical legal articles written by Mr. Tozer may be
found at http://www.TozerLaw.com/Tozer_Reports.html.
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