How Important Is Uninsured Motorist?
Florida Uninsured Drivers 2015
The Lawyer Says You Should
According to a recent study published by the Insurance Research Council, more than 1 in every 4 drivers in the State of Florida do not carry insurance for their vehicles. Why should this concern you? Because a lot of those other 4 only carry the minimum coverage required by Florida law. The average person does not ask themselves if they are going to get into a car accident today however if you are one of the unlucky individuals you may be left high and dry by the other persons insurance, or your own, for medical and property damages. If nothing else after 7 years in college, the most important thing that I walked away with was an understanding of the importance of having the right insurance coverages.
I get it, no one likes to talk about insurance and the different types of coverages you can acquire for your property. It took me years to fully appreciate and understand all the options available and this only takes into consideration Florida law. It doesn’t help that there are multiple names for the same type of coverage. The bottom line is if you do not have uninsured or underinsured (same thing) coverage for your auto policy, you are paying for insurance to protect not you, but the other people around you.
What Is It?
For simplicities sake, I am going to stick to talking about only uninsured motorist here, but if you want a more detailed explanation of the most common types of car insurance coverage in Florida, you can visit our article here: Full Coverage in Florida.
The easiest way to describe uninsured motorist coverage is by thinking of it as your seat belt. It’s there to protect you as a last ditch effort to being harmed. With almost every other coverage designed to protect someone you injure, this is one of the only coverages that is designed to protect you. Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, as the name implies, kicks in when someone hits you and either does not carry insurance on their vehicle (over 25% chance of this) or does not have sufficient coverage to pay for the damages done to you. The real kicker here is that Florida law does not require bodily injury coverage to be carried on insurance policies which is what protects you from harm.
Florida Car Accident Injuries
In Summary
The bottom line is that if you don’t have this coverage, you are putting your property and self at risk. Some of the worst accident cases I have seen involve the at fault person having no insurance available that we could make a successful recovery on and my client did not have uninsured motorist. These include cases in my opinion that would have been worth well over a million dollars gross. Being lucky enough to walk away from some of these accidents is a blessing in itself however being stuck to foot the bill for the property and injury claims can financially ruin you.
Do yourself a favor, talk to your local insurance agent and find out how much it would cost to add this coverage to your policy. It will be one of the only things working in your favor following an accident. Alternatively, if you have any other questions on coverages our office is always willing to speak with you on the phone or in person to answer any questions as well.
Logan T. Lawrence, Esq.
03/25/2021