Just a little background on me regarding why I’m writing this. I’m not an insurance agent, I’m a personal injury lawyer. Many of my cases revolve around automobile accidents though. Prior to attending law school, I worked as a claims adjuster for 7 years. I’ve been doing injury claims for either the insurance company, or as a plaintiff’s trial lawyer since 1989.
Two types of coverage you should make sure you have:
1) Number 1 – Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist coverage for both property damage and bodily injury.
Why? Because about 25% to 33% of all drivers you come across in Texas are uninsured for one reason or another. Either they never bothered to purchase it, they forgot to pay their premium, they are allowing someone to drive their vehicle who is an excluded driver under the policy, or some other variation that causes them to be uninsured for the accident they cause.
This means you have a 25% – 33% chance that if someone runs into you, you will need to file a claim under your own insurance to get your car taken care of and pay for any medical bills that your health coverage will not pay (deductibles, copays, out of network facilities, etc. It can add up – medical bills are not cheap – especially if your health insurance doesn’t cover them).
Uninsured covers if the other driver doesn’t have insurance. Underinsured – on the other hand, covers if the other driver doesn’t have enough insurance. If you are driving a vehicle that is worth more than $25,000.00 you definitely should carry Underinsured motorist coverage. A vast majority of drivers have the $25,000 minimum limits. If they cause your vehicle to be totaled, you will only recover up to their limits ($25,000.00) even if you have a $40,000 – $50,000 car.
The other thing that is nice about Uninsured Motorist coverage for your car is that the deductible is only $250. Additionally, its the type of coverage that places a burden on your insurance company to attempt to collect against the uninsured driver if the driver is known.
The downside of Uninsured Motorist coverage is that it acts in the place of the other driver’s insurance. Which means that when you use it, your insurance company will investigate the claim with an eye towards defending the other driver’s actions. So if the accident is a swearing match (he said / she said) you might not be able to collect. You can only collect on Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist coverage if the other driver was at fault for your harms and losses.
2) Personal Injury Protection – is a coverage that pays for your medical bills up front if you are hurt. You don’t have to wait to “settle” your case before using your Personal Injury Protection coverage. Most people carry $2500 in PIP coverage (which is the minimum amount required to be offered by law), but the amount is only limited by what your insurance company will offer. Typical amounts offered are $2500, $5000, or $10,000 in coverage.
The good part of Personal Injury Protection is that it covers not only your medical bills, but it covers up to 80% of your lost income, and reasonable household bills (such as if your injury was bad enough to need to hire someone to help with cleaning, or mowing, etc). It is a much better coverage than MedPay coverage which only covers medical bills (typically MedPay is also written for the same amounts offered for Personal Injury Protection – $2500, $5000, $10,000 in coverages).
Its not a ton of money, but it can cover your deductibles and copays if you have a more serious injury. It can also cover much of your lost income, or if you need to hire additional help around the house due to an injury.
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I run across many cases where people have opted out of these two coverages. Its a mistake not to have them. If you are paying for insurance each month, don’t you want something that you can actually use for yourself if you need to use it? These coverages do just that.
