An estimated 1 in 4 Florida drivers wouldn’t have auto insurance coverage. That’s too many!
However with Uninsured Motorist protection, you don’t must pay the worth for his or her errors.
A hidden hazard awaits those that come to Florida. And no, it’s not hurricanes.
It’s underinsured drivers.
Based on current estimates, about 1 in 6 Florida drivers (15%, to be exact) don’t have any insurance coverage. If that sounds excessive, that’s as a result of it’s. The Sunshine State has one of many highest numbers of uninsured drivers within the nation.
However an accident with an uninsured driver isn’t the one factor it’s good to fear about. You additionally want to fret in regards to the drivers who don’t carry any extra protection than what’s required by legislation.
On this article, we’ll cowl why Florida’s insurance coverage minimums aren’t adequate and how one can defend your self with Uninsured Motorist Protection.
Why FL’s State Minimums Aren’t Good Sufficient
Right here within the State of Florida, it’s essential to present proof of insurance coverage protection earlier than you even register your car. You could carry a MINIMUM of:
- $10,000 of Private Damage Safety (PIP) and
- $10,000 of Property Harm Legal responsibility (PDL).
That’s it.
$10,000 could sound like some huge cash, nevertheless it’s not often sufficient to pay for an auto accident.
Take Property Harm Legal responsibility protection for instance, which is designed to supply protection for the injury chances are you’ll trigger to different individuals’s property. That $10,000 restrict could be sufficient when you hit a bicycle, however what when you whole a brand-new Audi?
Yup. You’re on the hook for the remainder. They’ll even garnish your wages in the event that they must.
And with regards to Private Damage Safety, the state of affairs will get even worse. If the accident is unhealthy sufficient to whole a automotive, it’s unhealthy sufficient to severely injure its passengers as effectively. How far do you suppose that $10,000 will go if it’s good to be taken to the hospital?
What’s much more horrifying is that Private Damage Safety (PIP) covers the one who buys it. It doesn’t cowl the particular person they harm—YOU! Yep. You could be authorized on the street in Florida with ZERO protection for third-parties you may bodily harm in an accident.
Florida’s minimal auto insurance coverage necessities are merely not sufficient safety for you and your loved ones. However so many individuals stick to them simply to avoid wasting a couple of dollars each month.
“However, Jason,” I can hear you saying. “I’m a accountable driver. I do know higher than that.”
That could be true, however what about everybody else on the street? You don’t get to decide on which automotive you hit (or which automobiles hit you); it simply occurs. Thankfully, there’s a approach to defend your self in opposition to uninsured and underinsured drivers.
Enter: Uninsured Motorist protection.
What’s Uninsured Motorist Protection (UM)?
It may not be required by Florida legislation (but!), however Uninsured Motorist protection is important nonetheless.
Uninsured Motorist protection is designed to cowl accidents (each to you and your passengers) brought on by:
- a 3rd celebration who didn’t have insurance coverage (or hit-and-run drivers)
- an at-fault driver who could have had insurance coverage, however didn’t have sufficient to cowl your accidents—like those that have solely PIP and Property Harm!
Florida drivers aren’t required to buy uninsured motorist protection however all automotive insurance coverage firms are required to supply it. In the event you choose out of UM protection, it’s essential to accomplish that in writing (it’s essential to learn all paperwork with regards to insurance coverage). Most often, nonetheless, your insurance coverage agent most likely received’t warning you in opposition to the risks of driving round with out this protection.
It may be costly. At Harry Levine Insurance coverage, protection comes first, although we at all times respect your price range.
Going with none insurance coverage within the state of Florida is unlawful. However, as everyone knows, the explanation now we have legal guidelines is as a result of individuals do issues they shouldn’t.
If a Florida driver is caught driving with out insurance coverage, they’ll most likely get a suspended license. But when their accident broke your leg or gave you whiplash, that’s a case of locking the barn door after the horse has already bolted.
In different phrases: It punishes them, nevertheless it doesn’t pay your medical bills!
How To Buy Uninsured Motorist Insurance coverage
There are two kinds of UM protection in Florida: stacked and unstacked.
Stacked Uninsured Motorist insurance coverage is out there for an extra premium. Stacking insurance coverage permits you to mix protection limits, providing you with extra safety if you’re hit by an uninsured driver. In case you have a $100,000 Uninsured Motorist protection restrict and a couple of automobiles, you might gather as much as $200,000 after an accident to which the protection utilized. Even when you solely have personal one automotive this protection cab be invaluable. In the event you’re in a “alternative non-public passenger car” like a rental automotive whereas on trip, that car is taken into account your second automotive and stacking would apply when you’ve chosen it.
Let’s say you buy a single coverage to cowl two automobiles—yours and your partner’s. Your UM coverage has a protection restrict of $50,000 per particular person and $100,000 per accident. With an unstacked coverage, these numbers can be your protection restrict. However with a stacked coverage, you’ll be able to stack the protection restrict of 1 automotive on high of the opposite one, providing you with a brand new protection restrict of $100,000 per particular person and $300,000 per accident.
In Florida, UM protection is both stacked or unstacked and it’s essential to specify which you need. It’s additionally essential to notice that stacked protection typically has increased premiums, so that is one thing it’s best to take into account rigorously after discussing it along with your impartial insurance coverage agent.
Automobile Accidents Are Costly!
Right here’s an instance of how Uninsured Motorist Protection works.
Say you’re driving dwelling from work someday and also you get hit by one other driver who admitted that he “simply didn’t see you.” You drive your (dented) automotive away from the accident however, that night time, your again begins to harm. If you go to the physician the subsequent day, he discovers that you just ruptured a disc in your again and can want common take care of the foreseeable future.
The opposite driver was discovered to be at-fault, however Florida is a “No-Fault” state, so that you flip to your individual PIP coverage for protection. Eight months later, you’ve spent a complete of $12,000…and your again nonetheless isn’t utterly healed. What’s worse: you’ve hit your protection restrict, so all different bills will come out of your individual pocket.
Usually, that is the time while you would method the at-fault driver (extra appropriately, their insurance coverage firm) and say, “Hey, this accident was your fault. My insurance coverage firm has achieved all they’ll do for me. It’s your flip to cough up the remainder.”
That’s when the opposite shoe drops. Not solely does the opposite driver not have auto insurance coverage, they’re bankrupt and might’t provide you with a single penny.
That is solely a gentle instance of the sort of scenario that occurs on a regular basis all through the nation. A extra excessive case might need you struggling extreme accidents that require hospitalization, rehabilitation, surgical procedure, and long-term care.
Keep in mind, you don’t get to decide on which automobiles you collide with on the street or how severely you and the passengers in your car are injured. However with Uninsured Motorist protection, you have got another choice if at at-fault third celebration is unable to cowl your accidents.
Be Ready
Within the midst of a exhausting insurance coverage market, it’s very seemingly that Florida drivers will proceed to slash their auto insurance coverage insurance policies in an effort to economize. And sadly, you’ll be able to’t depend on your secure driving expertise to forestall you from ever stepping into an accident.
Intoxicated, unsafe, unlicensed, inexperienced, and uninsured drivers are on Central Florida roads as we communicate. It’s solely a matter of time earlier than you tangle with one in all them.
Accidents and accidents are costly, however the surest approach to put together your self in opposition to monetary disaster after an auto accident is by carrying the suitable insurance coverage insurance policies.
Don’t level fingers in any respect the opposite underinsured motorists when you’re one your self!
Uninsured Motorist protection is important for Florida drivers, nevertheless it’s not the one manner you’ll be able to defend your self. Speak to your impartial insurance coverage agent about the price of including an endorsement or elevating your limits to offer you the most effective degree of safety to your price range and—extra importantly—your danger profile.
At Harry Levine Insurance coverage, we discover Uninsured Motorist protection to be so essential that we expressly warning each shopper in opposition to going with out it.
Our philosophy is: don’t store for insurance coverage primarily based on worth, go along with the insurance policies that present the most effective protection and received’t allow you to down within the occasion of an auto accident.
Need to get began? Get a quote on our web site. We’re excited to satisfy you!