What is uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in Florida?
Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage is designed to provide additional coverage in the event that you are involved in an accident with a driver that does not have any or enough liability coverage for your injuries. UM/UIM can also be applied in the event that you are hit by a driver that flees the scene of the accident. In general, UM/UIM covers what you would have received from the at fault driver’s insurance company, had the appropriate coverage been available. This would include but is not limited to medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, etc.
Why is it important to have UM/UIM coverage in Florida?
UM/UIM is especially important to have in the state of Florida because drivers are not required to purchase bodily injury (BI) coverage. There is a common misconception that UM/UIM coverage pays for the injuries and/or vehicle damage of the uninsured motorist. UM/UIM covers the policyholder, other drivers listed on the policy and passengers in the policy holder’s vehicle. Contact us for a free automobile insurance review to ensure you have sufficient coverage.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage (Transcript)
Paul R. Cavonis, Injury Law and Board Certified Civil Trial Attorney
Paul: UM Coverage, which stands for Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage is a crucial insurance topic for people in the state of Florida to understand. We have a lot of people who move to Florida from another state and they are very surprised to hear that in Florida people who operate cars are not required to have bodily injury liability coverage, believe it or not, it's not a requirement under Florida law. That means that you can be involved in an accident caused by someone else and that person may not have any coverage to compensate you for your injuries. Happens all the time, I've had cases where people have lost their lives and there was no insurance there. I've had people who were catastrophically injured and there's no insurance.
It's a very sad situation. Fortunately, there is a way for you to protect yourself in the state of Florida and that is to buy what's called UM coverage under your own policy. And basically, what you're doing when you buy UM coverage is you are buying bodily injury liability coverage for the other person who may hurt you, who may cause you injury if you're involved in a car accident. Now in the state of Florida, insurance companies are required by law to give you UM coverage in the same amount as your bodily injury liability coverage, whatever those limits are, unless you select a different limit or you sign a rejection form.
But the big point I want to really make here is, make sure you get UM coverage because the odds are, that if you were involved in a crash and someone else's at fault, there's a very good chance that that person is not going to have any bodily injury liability coverage to compensate you for your injuries.
