When you are purchasing automobile insurance in Florida, you are trained to look for the lowest price by all of the advertising done on television. Allstate, State Farm, Geico, Progressive, Liberty Mutual and the General can all save us money by switching. You’ve seen the commercials, but, we all know that is not the end of the story. As long as you are never in an automobile collision, you have nothing to worry about.
Ask yourself: Will the cut-rate insurers be there to protect you and your family when you are hit by a negligent driver with no insurance? No, they will not. They will tell you about how you waived important coverage by getting the lowest price possible. They will show you the document they had you initial waiving uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Did they explain how valuable this coverage would be in case of an accident? Nope.
None of these advertisements has the guts to tell you the truth. Florida has a very high percentage of uninsured/underinsured drivers on the road. How can this be? That’s a Great Question, and I’m glad you asked. The State of Florida only requires PIP (Personal Injury Protection benefits) and Property Damage to drive a car legally. Some people call this full coverage. It’s not. It’s the bare minimum coverage to drive legally. You won’t hear about this in an insurance company advertisement either because they don’t want to sell you the coverages that protect you and your family. Those coverages might cost the insurance company money. That would be bad for their bottom line.
The truth would be that there are many uninsured and underinsured drivers on the road in Florida, and it’s up to you to buy the best car insurance possible to protect yourself and your family. Stop thinking about switching to save $100 a year. Think about what will happen if a drunk driver hits you and puts you into intensive care. Think about feeding your family. Think about the mortgage, car payments and lost wages. Think about what you are not getting when you buy cut-rate insurance on-line. You are not getting the experience of an experienced insurance agent who can explain which coverages you need and in what amount.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is extremely important in Florida because it provides financial protection if you or a loved one is in an accident with a negligent, drunk or distracted driver who does not have enough insurance to cover your damages. Without uninsured/underinsured coverage, you could be left paying for your own medical expenses and car repairs out of pocket. I cannot stress enough the importance of having a great auto insurance agent who will answer your questions about the different types of automobile coverage and provide you with options about the appropriate amount of insurance for your circumstances. Here are 3 truths which you need to consider:
- Truth: Florida has one of the highest numbers of uninsured drivers on the road. So, everytime you drive you are rolling the dice as to whether you will be hit by an insured driver or an uninsured driver. That’s a pretty big risk. Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage eliminates this gamble because you know you are protected in any type of collision. Do you really want to leave your family’s financial future in the hands of someone else? No, you don’t.
- Truth: Florida has a very high number of hit-and-run collisions every year. If you, or a loved one, is injured in a hit-and-run collision and the other driver cannot be found, you can look to your own automobile insurance policy, the uninsured/underinsured portion to help you with your damage claim.
- Truth: Health care after a motor vehicle collision is not cheap. Your PIP coverage kicks in, but that is only $10,000 of coverage. One visit to the Emergency Room via ambulance and that $10,000 is probably gone. What happens to the medical bills in excess of that? Who is going to pay for those bills? If you are unlucky enough to be injured in a collision with an uninsured or underinsured driver, you can look to your uninsured and underinsured automobile coverage to pay for your excess medical expenses.
At the Dellutri Law Group, we do not sell automobile insurance, so we have no financial interest in requesting you purchase better car insurance. We do offer free automobile insurance policy reviews, and we will discuss the different types of coverages that you have. We make recommendations for what we believe you may need today and in the future in case you are ever involved in a motor vehicle collision. We can also make recommendations to experienced insurance agents that we know will help their clients make the right choices about their automobile insurance. Call us today for a free auto insurance review with a car accident expert who knows what types of coverage you should have to protect yourself and your family.
