What do you mean you’re not Insured?
Driving on the road today means navigating from point “A” to point “B” with a lot of people out there with you. Your responsibility as a driver is to make sure that you obey the law, pay your fees, and insure your vehicle and yourself to the requirements of your state. In a perfect world, everyone would follow the rules, and when accidents happened all parties involved would have the insurance coverages needed to amend any harm. Unfortunately, the world we live in is not one we can realistically assume all drivers on the road have taken the necessary requirements to protect themselves or you in the event you are the victim of an accident. That is where Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist Coverage comes into play for you. Opting in to this coverage, as Florida does not require you to add it to your insurance policy, gives you extra coverage up to the amount you chose based on the limit options provided by your insurance company. When you are involved in an accident with a motorist that is not carrying adequate policy limits or does not have auto insurance at all, you use your UM coverage.
What is UM Coverage?
Uninsured Motorist coverage is commonly known as “UM coverage.” Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage reimburses policyholders in an accident involving an uninsured, underinsured, or a hit-and-run driver. About one in eight drivers don’t carry car insurance, according to a 2021 report from the Insurance Research Council. (https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-uninsured-motorists)
What happens if you are involved in an accident with one of these drivers, and you don’t have UM coverage? You could be stuck with some larger-than-life out-of-pocket expenses. Don’t navigate the legal side alone, Seth Alper is at the forefront of litigating UM claims on your behalf. When choosing coverage, UM is usually expressed as two numbers, such as 10/20, 25/50, 50/100, 100/300, etc. What does this mean? For example, in the 100/300 scenario, your UM coverage would be $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. You can also have stacked and unstacked UM coverage. Stacked UM coverage multiplies your coverage by the number of vehicles on the policy. Stacked UM coverage also follows the insured. It would provide coverage if you are a passenger in another vehicle. Having UM coverage is important in Florida because the minimum insurance requirements are very low. In the State of Florida, bodily injury is not mandatory. The only mandatory coverage is $10,000 in property damage and $10,000 in personal injury protection. If you are not at fault in an accident and the at fault driver does not have bodily injury coverage and you have no uninsured coverage, you would have no claim to recover for the injuries you sustained from the at fault driver’s insurance company. You would have to sue the at fault driver personally. Another example is if an underinsured driver only has 10/20 in coverage, you can only receive $10,000 from their insurance and if you have no UM coverage, you have no claim against your insurance company.
Florida ranks 6th highest in uninsured motorists on the road with a whopping 20.4%. To put it into perspective, New York at 3rd lowest uninsured motorists on the road in the United States comes in at 4.1% as of 2019. This means millions of drivers in Florida are uninsured or underinsured.
Seth M. Alper P. A. has a plethora of experience representing one of the largest insurance companies. He can provide you with invaluable knowledge when dealing with getting what you deserve from your UM claims. If you find yourself in need of an attorney after a motor vehicle accident call our office today! If you would like a free consultation regarding your automobile policy, please call Seth’s office. We are happy to provide you with our opinion.
