561-338-0420
According to recent news reports, Florida has the dubious distinction of ranking in the top 5 states with 1 in 4 of its drivers not carrying basic auto liability insurance necessary to protect you when they cause an accident resulting in bodily injury to you. Thus, the odds of you being involved in an accident with someone without insurance or who is woefully underinsured may even be much greater because the type of person who doesn’t meet his legal obligation to carry auto insurance probably doesn’t have much regard for the rules of the road either.
The only way that you can protect yourself from the devastating financial impact of being seriously injured by an uninsured or underinsured driver is through the purchase of Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist protection (known as “UM Coverage”) from your own automobile insurance carrier. This is perhaps the single most important type of insurance coverage you can have after basic health since it pays your medical expenses, lost wages, and a host of other expenses when you are injured by someone with no insurance or who does not have sufficient coverage to adequately compensate you for your injuries.
And even though you may think that this doesn’t apply since you purchased “Full Coverage” from your agent, that doesn’t always mean that the policy you bought actually includes UM Coverage. Very often we end up telling clients who come to our office believing that they have full coverage that the person that hit them has no insurance or it was lapsed at the time of the accident, that their supposed full coverage did not include UM Coverage, and that we cannot do anything to help them.
Worse yet, those clients may be personally responsible for any medical bills in excess of their personal PIP benefit required under Florida law and they have little to no recourse against the driver who hit them because that person generally doesn’t have any money otherwise they probably would have bought auto insurance in the first place.
You should immediately call your agent and make sure that you have UM Coverage on your auto policy, and if you don’t, you should purchase the highest available coverage limits you can comfortably afford.
Please feel free to contact Eltringham Law Group in Boca Raton, Florida for more information on UM Coverage by going to the Eltringham Law Group website at www.eltlawnew.staging.wpengine.com and submitting a message through the Quick Contact Form. You can also call 561-338-0420 or email us directly and we will be more than happy to answer any questions regarding UM Coverage completely free of charge.
