UNINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE
Buy as much as you can afford!!
If you read my published article on uninsured motorist claims located elsewhere in this Website, you will realize just how crucial it is to have as much uninsured motorist (UM) coverage as possible. UM insurance pays for your damages if the adverse driver responsible for an accident has no insurance, or less coverage than your UM coverage (underinsured motorist claims). UM claims should not affect your premiums, since premiums should be determined solely on whether you are more than 50% at fault for the accident. Under UM coverage, any occupant can recover from your insurance company all the different types of damages you could have recovered from the adverse driver if they did have insurance. In fact, UM coverage protects all family members in your household, even if they are injured as a PEDESTRIAN!! (For more information on uninsured motorist claims, please see my article on Uninsured Motorist claims)
If you are seriously injured by someone who little or no insurance coverage, you are risking FINANCIAL DISASTER if you do not have adequate uninsured motorist coverage with your own insurance company. Uninsured motorist coverage is much cheaper than automobile liability insurance, and I recommend at the very minimum $100,000/$300,000, and preferably $250,000/$500,000 or even $500,000/$1,000,000. Recently it was possible to obtain $250,000/ $500,000 UM coverage for less than $100 a year, depending on your driving record. The first number is the policy limit per person for any one accident, and the second number after the slash is the aggregate policy limit for all claimants for any one accident. Thus, with $100,000/$300,000 limits, the maximum any occupant could recover for a particular accident is $100,000. If five occupants are injured, they would have to divide up $300,000 amongst them. Thus, there might be less than $100,000 available for any one claimant.
If the adverse driver only has the minimum $15,000 policy limits required by the state of California, then you can recover all your damages exceeding the $15,000 up to your policy limits in an underinsured motorist claim. I have known numerous accident victims with debilitating injuries (one was even blinded), massive wage loss and huge pain and suffering damages who recovered very little or nothing because they did not know that they had inadequate UM coverage. The fact that they are physically disabled from the accident is sad enough, but their financial devastation is an especially horrible tragedy, since it could have easily (and cheaply) been avoided. My clients who obtained over a quarter-million dollars at underinsured motorist arbitration sure were glad they spent the small amount it took to have $300,000 UM coverage. (See Some Examples of Cases That I Have Handled, Ramirez v. Firemen’s Fund – Click Here)
Most attorneys I know (including many personal injury attorneys) do not know how much UM coverage they have, so now you are forewarned! Don’t wait until it’s too late – look at your insurance policy or call your insurance agent now. Find out how much UM coverage you have and if you can afford $250,000/$500,000, or even more. If you have a good driving record, that amount of coverage should be relatively cheap. Having enough UM coverage is a small price to pay for avoiding financial disaster (and for the peace of mind knowing you have protected yourself).
MEDICAL PAYMENTS (“MED PAY”) COVERAGE
Medical payments coverage is essentially health insurance through an automobile insurance policy. It pays for all medical bills reasonably related to an accident which are incurred within a certain period of time from the accident (usually three years) by the named insured and any passengers. Even insurance agents have told me that if a person has health insurance, they feel that Med Pay coverage is not necessary. However, if one of your passengers is injured and does not have health insurance, it can be an incredible help to them in obtaining necessary medical treatment. Moreover, although under most Med Pay policies it is usually more favorable to your ultimate recovery to use your health insurance rather than Med Pay, the situation is the opposite for other insurance policies.
LIABILITY COVERAGE
California law requires that drivers have at least $15,000 automobile liability coverage. Obviously, $15,000 is often not sufficient if you seriously injure someone, so it is wise to purchase as much as you can afford. Unfortunately, liability insurance is generally far more expensive than Uninsured motorist insurance, so many people cannot afford the preferable coverage of $500,000, $250,000 or even $100,000.