Do you need to get Uninsured Motorist Coverage? Yes, you definitely need to get uninsured motorist coverage on your auto policy. In California there are about 4 million drivers without insurance. Approximately 1 out of every 8 drivers in the U.S. is uninsured.
If you do not have Uninsured Motorist coverage and you are hit by an uninsured motorist who causes an accident and causes you injuries and property damage, you probably won’t be able to recover anything from them including your property damage, medical bills or pain and suffering. You can sue them personally—but good luck recovering. Usually they can just file bankruptcy to avoid paying you.
In 33 years I cannot tell you how many times I have represented people with serious injuries from car accidents who were not able to recover anything because the person who caused the accident was uninsured and my clients didn’t have uninsured motorist coverage. Many of those cases were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A lot of my clients say they have “full coverage.” But that only means you have the legal minimum to drive which is $15,000 in liability coverage if the accident is your fault and someone wants to file a claim against you. But you are not required to have uninsured motorist coverage.
We recommend you have at least $100,000/$300,000 coverage for uninsured motorist and more if you can afford it. That means that there is $100,000 available per person and $300,000 total to make a claim against your own insurance company for medical bills, wage loss and pain and suffering. Call your agent. You may be surprised that it only costs a few dollars more per month.
At Guenard & Bozarth, LLP, we routinely handle severe and catastrophic injuries that have a major impact on peoples’ lives. We have more than 60 years of experience representing injured people. We would be honored to represent you. We are totally committed to each client’s case because each client has a special story to be told. Call us anytime at
(916) 714-7672 or visit www.gblegal.com.
