You Likely Need More Insurance For Your Own Protection
Your own insurance will cover you when hit by someone with no car insurance or if you have more insurance than the other party
Joe was riding his motorcycle through an intersection when a car ran a stop sign and struck him. Joe flew off his motorcycle and was severely injured and spent several weeks in the hospital. His modeling career ended as Joe lost a chunk of his head in the accident. Joe was 23 years old and his life would never be the same.
The tragedy is that both Joe and the other driver had the least insurance you can have in Virginia. There was only $25,000 to cover Joe. If Joe had better insurance he would have gotten more money for his tragic accident. We have had many clients with a similar story.
Most people that come in my office have no idea how much car insurance they have. Usually when I ask them they tell me they have “full coverage.” I explain that “full coverage” refers to insurance on their vehicle. It has nothing to do with insurance for injuries.
My typical client has the least insurance they can have by law. In Virginia the least bodily injury (BI) coverage you can have is 25/50, which means $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. In an accident with more than one person injured, insurance only has to pay at most $25,000 for each individual. The most they have to pay is a total of $50,000 for every individual injured in a single accident.
When you get into a car wreck in Virginia, the only policy that you know for sure you have is your own insurance policy. As I noted in a previous blog post, almost 10% of people who own a car in Virginia have no car insurance. Some states do not make drivers carry any BI car insurance. I know this because several Florida drivers with no insurance struck some of our clients.
In Virginia, the BI coverage on your own car insurance policy will cover you if you get in an accident with an uninsured driver. This is Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage. It is part of almost every Virginia policy by default.
If you get struck by someone with less BI coverage than you have then your own policy covers you. This is especially important in terrible accidents. It can make a huge difference in the amount of money you recover for your injuries.
Uninsured and Underinsured motorist (UM) coverage are the real reasons you need more car insurance. Those types of BI insurance protect you and your passengers in the worst car accidents.
It is relatively cheap to add more car insurance. Call your car insurance company today and ask them how much it costs to increase your BI coverage. Your UM coverage increases with your BI coverage.
I’m Richmond car accident lawyer Wayne O’Bryan, a nice guy who wants to make a difference in your life. Call me at 804-643-4343.