Should I Get Uninsured Motorost Coverage? What Does an Uninsured Motorist Insurance Policy Cover?
When you apply for auto insurance in Florida to cover you for injury accidents, the insurance agent will ask you if you want uninsured motorist protection. While vehicle owners are required to have a certain level of insurance in Florida, they are not required to have uninsured motorist insurance coverage. It is completely discretionary. In order to decide whether you should purchase uninsured motorist coverage, you should know what you are buying and what it covers.
First, I will explain what liability insurance policies cover. A liability insurance policy covers you if you cause an accident and injure or cause the death of another person. In other words, if you run a red light and crash into another vehicle and injure that other driver, that other driver may make a claim for damages against your insurance company (and your liability policy) and possibly sue you for the damages. Your liability insurance policy is there to compensate that other driver for any damages you caused him/her.
Uninsured motorist coverage is different. It compensates you for your injuries caused by another driver who is either uninsured or underinsured. Uninsured motorist coverage is also referred to as underinsured motorist coverage. In other words, if you are stopped at a red light and another driver crashed into your vehicle causing injuries to you, you can make a claim against his/her insurance company for your damages. However, if that person has no insurance, you have your own uninsured motorist insurance policy that will pay you for your damages since the other driver has no insurance. Alternatively, if you are injured and your damages are $100,000, what if the other driver only has $25,000 in insurance? In that case, you make a claim for the other driver's $25,000 and get that money. But, since you still have $75,000 in unpaid damages, that other driver is considered underinsured in this case. As a result, you can make a claim against your own insurance company for that $75,000 (assuming you purchased at least $75,000 in uninsured motorist coverage).
As you can see, uninsured motorist coverage is there to protect you and compensate you in case you are injured by someone with little or no insurance. Unfortunately, you cannot predict how much insurance the driver who hits you will have or whether or not he/she will even have insurance. If you want to be sure there will be sufficient, or at least additional, insurance funds available if you are injured in an accident by someone who may have no or little insurance coverage, then uninsured motorist coverage is what you want to buy.
