Attorney Carl Reynolds explains what exactly uninsured motorist insurance is.
Liability insurance covers your assets, (ie home, savings, stocks, bonds) and is there should there be an accident between you and another person.
Uninsured motorist insurance is to protect your person. If you are injured in an accident, and the ‘at fault driver’ does not have insurance, then your uninsured motorist policy covers the cost that otherwise would have been covered by the at fault party.
He goes on to advise everyone to review their insurance polices and understand fully what is and isn’t covered as well as the limits of coverage. He also mentions that the uninsured motorist policy is inexpensive compared to liability insurance.
Attorney Wendell Horne advises viewers to read their “declaration page” of their insurance policies to see what kind of coverage they have. Liability and collision comprehension coverage (which protects your car) will probably be 75-80% of the cost of the premium. Uninsured motorist is minimal in cost.
Attorney Carl Reynolds states that in Georgia, you must have liability coverage, yet you don’t have to carry the uninsured motorist coverage, but you should! In Georgia, the minimum coverage is $25,000 per person or $50,000 per accident in the aggregate on your liability coverage. He says most people get the same amount of coverage for their uninsured motorist policy. He goes on to add that it is recommended that people carry at least $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident on both liability insurance and uninsured motorist insurance to be adequately covered.
Attorney Wendell Horne points out that you can not have more coverage on your uninsured motorist policy than you do on your liability policy.
There are two types of uninsured motorist coverage. The traditional coverage was standard up to 2009 or 2010. After that year, the law changed allowing for “uninsured motorist excess”. That means that the liability coverage of the ‘at fault driver’ can be stacked with the uninsured motorist policy of your own insurance. If you have the traditional uninsured motorist policy, then your insurance company gets an ‘off set’ and your uninsured motorist policy does not activate. You can not stack the policies if you have the traditional type of uninsured motorist insurance policy.
Attorney Carl Reynolds points out that insurance companies were presenting this to their clients as if the ‘add on’ or ‘excess’ uninsured motorist polices were not cost effective and since people did not understand how the policies worked, opted out of the ability to stack the policies, thereby lowering the total amount available to them should an accident occur.
