In the state of Florida, drivers are required to carry at least minimum bodily injury coverage. However, drivers are NOT required to get uninsured motorist coverage (UI) or underinsured motorist coverage (UIM). What is UI or UIM? Well, its bodily injury insurance for the driver that kicks in when an accident occurs and the at fault driver does not have bodily injury insurance.

In the state of Florida, 20.4% of drivers are uninsured. Florida ranks 6^th in states with the most uninsured motorist and Mississippi has the most and is the worst with a number 1 ranking.

Your nightmare scenario occurs when you are rear-ended in a horrible accident and seriously injured but the fault driver has no bodily injury insurance.  If the driver needs to receive extensive medical treatment including surgery then who pays for it? Well, if the at fault driver without any bodily injury insurance is insolvent and you do not have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage then you will have to pay for all your medical bills which could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As you can see in the above-described example, having your own bodily injury insurance is extremely important. When you see your insurance agent and they offer uninsured motorist coverage you should jump on it.

UM and UIM can be used to pay for the following:

Medical expenses past, present and future

Lost wages

Pain and suffering

Future loss of earning potential

Stacking Uninsured Motorist Coverage:

If you choose to purchase UM or UIM coverage, you may be able to take advantage of what is known as “stacking.” One of the major benefits of UM and UIM coverage is the policyholder can stack coverage based on the amount of vehicles to be covered under the policy. For instance, if you purchase a $100,000 UM/UIM policy and have three vehicles on the policy, you can “stack” the policy so that there is really $300,000 in coverage. Essentially, the amount of coverage is multiplied by the number of cars covered under the policy.

The bottom line is accidents happen every day and if you are involved in one of these unfortunate accidents you want to have as much protection as possible. You might say, “I reside in a nice community so I don’t need it because everyone here has bodily injury insurance but that’s not true. Whether you live in a nice community in Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach Gardens or Jupiter you are still playing Russian roulette by thinking that everyone has bodily injury insurance. Contact the Ledezma Law Firm at 561-454-9727 or email attorney Renier Ledezma at rledezma@ledezmalawfirm.com and we will help you if you are involved in an accident and explain how your uninsured motorist coverage can benefit you and your family.