In this Legal Minute Video, TWWHB associate, Shelby Savage, will explain the importance of uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage (often referred to as “UM coverage”). When you get into a car accident and the other driver does not have enough insurance to compensate you for all the damages caused, this is where your UM coverage becomes very important. Ensuring you have adequate UM coverage is a step you can take right now—before an accident occurs—to better protect yourself and your family.
QUESTION:
What is UM coverage and why do I need it?
ANSWER:
One thing a lot of people don't realize until after a car crash happens is this: You can't control the at-fault driver's insurance coverage, but you absolutely can control yours. When someone hits you or they don't have bodily injury (“BI”) coverage or they don't have enough of it, you might have to look to your own policy to help cover you.
That's where underinsured or uninsured motorist, sometimes called “UM” coverage, becomes really important. Now this is separate from your PIP Benefits, and Phillip Warren has a video on that I would recommend you go watch. But UM coverage is designed to protect you when the person who hit you doesn't have enough coverage to cover the harm that they caused you. But the problem is that a lot of people in Florida don't really understand or know what coverages they have, and insurance policies can be really confusing.
That's one of the benefits of hiring an attorney is we can review your policy and help you understand what options and coverages you have under that policy and under Florida law. But the best time to look at your insurance policy is before the crash happens, so this is something you can do right now. You can go look at your insurance policy or call up your agent and say: “Do I have UM coverage?”
Look, hopefully you never need it. But if you are hit by someone who doesn't have BI coverage or doesn't have enough of it, then your UM coverage is really what's going to be most important.