In the past, the Insurance Research Council found that one in six drivers in the country are without insurance. With the ongoing economic issues that the country continues to face, it is expected that those numbers will grow. Based on current unemployment rate projections, the percentage of uninsured motorists is expected to rise for 2011.
In 2007, the five states with the highest uninsured driver estimates were New Mexico (29 percent), Mississippi (28 percent), Alabama (26 percent), Oklahoma (24 percent), and Florida (23 percent). The five states with the lowest uninsured driver estimates were Massachusetts (1 percent), Maine (4 percent), North Dakota (5 percent), New York (5 percent), and Vermont (6 percent).
What do these numbers mean for you and your family? It means that if any of you are in an accident, there is a higher possibility that it will be with a driver who is uninsured. This would mean no coverage for the injuries except for the insurance that you purchased. It is imperative that you review what your UM and UIM coverage is. Keep in mind that if you have more than one car on your policy that you can stack your no fault coverages.
It is too late after an accident to find out that you didn’t protect your family. Most coverage increases aren’t that much compared to the extra protection they provide.
A founding partner with Bradshaw & Bryant, Mike Bryant has always fought to find justice for his clients—knowing that legal troubles, both personal injury and criminal, can be devastating for a family. Voted a Top 40 Personal Injury "Super Lawyer" multiple years, Mr. Bryant has also been voted one of the Top 100 Minnesota "Super Lawyers" four times.
4 Comments
martinmorriss
I have a thirteen year old girl, and honest to god every day I wake up I am thankful that I have an incredible insurance policy that pays for my medical insurance. I found insurance from Wise Health Insurance website and it doesn’t pay 100% on everything, but when I receive the bill and find out just how much I would have had to pay had I not been insured I realize that there is no way in the world that I could have afforded kind of care without it.
Mike Bryant
Sounds like you learned the importance the hard way. Thank you for reading and the comment, my best to you and your little girl.
Cary White
This is excellent advice but it does not go far enough to emphasize the amount of insurance, traps or persons especially susceptible. The last one first: Motorcyclists. Even if you are hit by an insured driver, the minimum statutory liability limits for auto insurance are so small in most states that you are not likely to have coverage for your trip to the hospital let alone any coverage for a serious injury. Most motorcyclists purchase minimum liability insurance because they do not believe they can harm anyone with their motorcycle, this is not true, but more importantly, your UM/UIM limits cannot exceed your own liability limits. This leads to the first point. Purchase liability insurance limits with your own injuries in mind too. If you believe you need no less than $250,000 in UM/UIM (minimum in my opinion for a motorcyclist) you need to purchase $250,000 in liability limits too. Finally, it is essential to note that many standard auto insurers that offer multi-policy discounts for home, auto and umbrella do not provide coverage for UM/UIM in the umbrella limits. If you have an umbrella policy or are contemplating purchasing one, it is essential that you find this out immediately. Likewise, insurance agents and brokers should alert you to this very serious coverage deficiency. Rest assured there are stand alone umbrella alternatives that will give you $1m or more in UM/UIM above your home and auto.
Mike Bryant
All very good points. Unfortunately a problem is Minnesota is that the courts have ok'd difference of the limits UIM policies, so you can only get the difference of the defendants policy and the UIM . So each of these policies start with at least a 30,000 subtraction and maybe more if they defendant has more coverage.
As to umbrella policies you have to make sure the UIM is covered, there are a number of policies that are only liability, and a number of agents don't even understand them.
Thanks for reading and the helpful comment.
Comments for this article are closed.