August 30, 2017
When you are injured in an automobile accident you first look to your $10,000 of no-fault Personal Injury Protection Coverage under your auto insurance policy for payment of your medical bills and lost wages. This coverage can be exhausted quickly with an emergency room visit, subsequent treatment, or lost wages.
Next, you look to the at-fault party’s insurance to see if they have a coverage called bodily injury liability. Florida does not require drivers to purchase bodily injury liability coverage. If the at-fault party does not have that coverage or does not have enough of that coverage, you check your policy to see if you purchased uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, often called “UM coverage.”
Uninsured motorist coverage pays bodily injury expenses for you and any passengers in your vehicle up to the policy limits you selected if you are struck by a driver who does not have insurance or if you are struck in a hit-and-run accident. Underinsured motorist coverage pays bodily injury expenses for you and any passengers in your vehicle up to the policy limits you selected if you are involved in an accident caused by a driver who has an insufficient amount of insurance.
Purchasing UM coverage is the best way to protect yourself in the event that you or your passengers are injured in an accident caused by a driver who has no bodily injury liability coverage.