The Other Side of Under-Insured Motorist - YOU

In a prior posting, we talked about why it's a good idea to have Uninsured and Under-Insured Motorist coverages on your car insurance policies.

In brief, the Under-Insured Motorist coverage takes care of your injuries in the event the other driver's at fault and doesn't have adequate coverage to pay for your medical bills (and those of your passengers).

But what happens if you're the one at fault and your coverage isn't enough to cover the other people's medical costs?

If you have no assets, usually the answer is nothing, but we all have assets including those we don't think about.

Assets include your home, your car(s), bank accounts, and one most people don't contemplate - wages. If you work for a salary or wages, and the other driver sues you and obtains a judgment, up to 25% of your take-home pay can be seized to pay off that judgment.

So, the bottom line is it might be time to consider increasing your auto liability coverage. If your limits are the state-required minimums of 15/30/15 and you have any of the assets described above, failure to increase your limits could be devastating.

For those who aren't sure what those limits mean, by the way, that's $15 thousand maximum per injured person, $30 thousand maximum per occurrence (no matter how many people in the other car are hurt) and $15 thousand maximum in property damage.

In other words, crashing into a Mercedes SUV with six or seven people in it could put you at substantial risk if you're under-insured.

The really good news after all of the above gloom-and-doom is that increasing your coverage is very inexpensive. Give us a call (602-466-2636 or 480-628-9786) and we'll explain more and run some numbers for you.

Why Uninsured and Under-Insured Motorist Coverage?

In Arizona, like most states, every driver's required to have car insurance to drive or operate a vehicle.

Want a surprise? Some people on the road have a license, but their insurance is no longer in force. Also, some folks who are behind the wheel don't have a license.

OK, so you're not surprised.

But if you get into an accident and it's the other driver's fault and you or your passengers sustain serious injury, what happens?

Of course you could sue the driver who caused the problem, but if (s)he's uninsured, the strong likelihood is that they don't have anything you can get after you get your judgment.

That's why Uninsured Motorist coverage was created.

While you may already be aware of this type of insurance, you may not be aware of its first-cousin, Under-Insured Motorist Coverage, which we'll talk about in a second.

But Uninsured Motorist (UM) means that if you have the kind of incident we were mentioning, i.e., an accident with an uninsured or unlicensed and uninsured driver, you're covered. You can get UM as part of your auto policy, and insurance companies in Arizona (and most other states) are required to notify you of its availability. But lots of times, a waiver of this coverage is something you might sign without having a conversation with your agent.

If that's happened to you, you might need a new agent (subtle hint?).

You might have medical insurance and your passengers may also be covered by health and major medical, but maybe not. If you're the only one that's injured, even if you do have that kind of coverage, the deductible and co-pays are still your responsibility. Uninsured Motorist eliminates that concern.

Under-Insured Motorist (UIM) Coverage is a slightly different animal.

If you have an accident with another vehicle and the other driver's at fault and has the state minimum liability coverage of $15 thousand per person and $30 thousand per occurrence, what happens if you and your passenger each have $20 thousand worth of medical bills?

Without UIM, the $5 thousand gap is the liability of the injured party. Obviously if the injuries are worse, so is the gap.

UIM covers the difference.

Naturally, I hope that you never need to be concerned about any auto insurance claims. One of the best things that could happen to any of us is to "waste" all the money we pay for car insurance by never having a claim.

But as the saying goes, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

UM and UIM are important coverages to be included in your policy. For more information or to talk about your current coverage, give me a call or drop me a note. The number at the office is 602-466-2636 and my cell number is 480-628-9786. If you'd rather than I call you, drop a note to jbushman@farmersagent.com, give me your number and an idea on the best time to reach you.

Thanks.

Purpose

The purpose of this site is to invite you to learn more about insurance in general, with some specifics. I'm a Farmers Insurance agent, but this is not a Farmers-sponsored blog, and the views expressed are my own and don't necessarily reflect the views of Farmers or any of its affiliates or other agents.

That said, the first thing I should say is that if you're interested in saving money and having a solid, ongoing relationship with an insurance agent and you're in Arizona, please call me at 602-466-2636 (office) or 480-628-9786 (cell). If you need or wish to e-mail me, the best place to send mail is jbushman@farmersagent.com.

Let's talk a bit more about some of the subjects raised in the preceding paragraph.

First: Saving Money. Whether you're talking about car insurance, or homeowners coverage, life insurance, or coverage for your mobile home, motorcycle or speedboat, we can help you keep more dollars in your pocket. The same's true if you run a business and need commercial liability (including auto) and/or workers compensation.

Farmers has recently reduced rates. So give me a call or drop me a note with your number and I'll call you. We can take a few minutes to get your information and we'll then do a no-obligation quote to see how much money we can save you.

Second: A solid, ongoing relationship with your agent. Do you love your agent? If not, call. I'm not interested in making a quick sale and running out the door. I expect and want to become a member of your team. As an example, we can talk now about your cars and when appropriate and convenient, discuss what kind of life insurance you should either have or plan on getting. I want you to feel so good about the service you get that you'd recommend me to your friends, co-workers, and members of your family.

If you want more than you're getting from your current agent, or a company with an 800 number where you talk to a different person every time you call, you already know what to do, and you don't have to wait until your current coverage is about to expire.

Let's talk.