Uninsured Motorist or UM Coverage is probably the most important auto coverage you should purchase, especially in Florida. That’s because UM pays for your personal injury losses in case someone with no insurance crashes into you. Remember that Florida does not require automobile owners to purchase liability insurance in case they hurt someone else in an accident. So imagine your driving down the street minding your own business and someone runs a stop sign and crashes into you. Imagine that aside from the pain and suffering associated with that accident, you have $50,000.00 in outstanding hospital bills resulting from this accident. Under Florida law, you would personally be responsible for these medical bills even if someone else caused the accident. Now imagine that the person that caused the accident had no insurance or only had Florida’s minimum insurance requirements which DO NOT cover personal injuries caused to others. What do you do now? Well, this is a scenario that I see all the time in our office. Someone is injured in a car accident through no fault of their own and the person that caused the accident is uninsured. Unless you purchase Uninsured Motorist coverage to protect yourself, the answer is there is probably nothing you can do and you will be stuck with all your medical bills, pain, suffering and other damages. Actually, you can sue the person that caused the accident, but odds are that person will not have the money or assets to pay for your losses. After all, they didn’t even have enough money to buy insurance.

 

Uninsured motorist coverage will also pay for personal injury damages to other passengers in your car at the time of accident and will cover household family members even when they are driving or riding as a passenger in someone else’s vehicle.

 

Your personal circumstances will determine how important UM coverage is to you. The bigger your family, and assets, especially if your family does not have health insurance, the more UM coverage becomes important to you.

 

Once again UM coverage is optional in Florida so make sure you ask for it. Insurance companies don’t really like to sell this type of coverage because it is difficult to asses the risks associated with an uninsured driver crashing into you. Another reason you should always buy insurance from an agent you trust, someone that is looking out for your best interest. Once again, if Uninsured Motorist coverage is not offered to you when buying insurance, ask for it, it may very well save you a lot of trouble later on.

 

If you have any questions about whether you are adequately insured or would like to discuss your case please call me at 1-855-JOSE305