Protect Your Family with Uninsured Motorist Coverage

November 6, 2014

So you’re driving down I-95 with your family on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. There’s traffic ahead so you slow down. As you are breaking…BOOM…you are rear-ended by a careless driver. Unfortunately, you suffer injuries to your neck that requires costly medical care. Your car is totaled and you miss time from work.

In the above scenario, if the at-fault driver were one of the 3.2 million uninsured drivers in Florida (2nd highest in the nation), you likely would not recover a dime for your injuries unless you had Uninsured

Motorist (“UM”) coverage. The reason: most if not all uninsured drivers have little or no assets to recover. And as the saying goes, you cannot get blood from a stone.

Each year, I receive dozens of calls from people who were injured in a car wreck caused by an uninsured person. If those potential clients have no Uninsured Motorist coverage, while it pains me to do so, I have to respectfully decline their cases. The reason being: there is no valid economic source of recovery.

So, the all-important question is: how can you financially protect you and your family if you are in a car wreck caused by an uninsured driver? Simple: make sure you have Uninsured Motorist coverage on your automobile insurance policy. When you have UM coverage, your auto insurance carrier stands in the shoes of the at-fault driver and covers your damages up to your policy limits.

Even if the driver who hit you had some BI coverage but not enough to fully cover your damages, your UM policy serves as a source of additional compensation through the included Underinsured Motorist coverage. For example, if the driver who hit you had a meager $10,000 worth of BI insurance (very common) and your damages are worth $110,000, you can potentially recover an excess $100,000 worth of damages from your own insurance company if you have a $100,000 UM policy.

Call your auto insurance carrier right now and make sure you have Uninsured Motorist coverage on your policy. If you are involved in a car accident or would like further information on Uninsured Motorist coverage, call The Grife Law Firm toll-free 855-998-0770.