Most people don’t worry about having adequate auto insurance to protect themselves. They just buy auto insurance because they’re required to do so in order to protect others, and don’t give it much more thought. However, you do need to think about having adequate auto insurance to protect yourself.
Part of your auto insurance policy is for uninsured and under-insured motorists, and is called UIM coverage. You will use this coverage not only if you get into an accident where the other driver is at fault and uninsured, but also where they don’t have enough insurance to cover the harms caused to you. For example, if your case is worth about $75,000 but the at-fault driver only has the legal minimum of $15,000 personal injury liability insurance, you would want to get the other $60,000 from your own insurance company with your UIM coverage.
Many people skimp on their UIM coverage, and therefore are not adequately covered when they get injured in an auto accident that’s someone else’s fault. I had a client who likely has permanent injuries from his accident, and his case is worth more than $1 million because of that. But this client only had $100,000 UIM coverage, the same amount as the at-fault driver’s personal injury liability, so that’s all he got.
Increasing your UIM coverage is not that expensive. You should strongly consider increasing your UIM coverage to at least $200,000, and getting the maximum would be better.
If you are wrongfully injured, in an auto accident or otherwise, contact a personal injury attorney today.