Many Motorists Lack Full Uninsured Coverage

Uninsured and underinsured drivers on our streets is a real problem in Georgia and many other states.  The car accident lawyers at McAleer Law can advise you on how much and which kind of insurance is ideal for drivers in Georgia. 

While it is true that all drivers are required by law to have liability insurance it is abundantly clear that many have no insurance at all. Some estimates state that nearly 50 percent of drivers are uninsured. Additionally, many that do have insurance only have the minimum coverage limits of $25,000 so that they can "drive legal for less". If a driver with such low coverage limits were to cause an accident with injuries, this minimum coverage will barely cover a brief hospital stay.

As a practicing lawyer in Atlanta for the past 14 years, I have counseled numerous clients who have been in the unfortunate position to have been injured by someone in a car accident who has minimum or no insurance coverage. Although these clients had insurance on their cars, the other drivers did not and these clients were then left holding the bag.

I advise all of my clients that there are things they can do to minimize the risk should they be injured by an uninsured or underinsured driver. First, the immediate solution is to simply pay a few dollars more each month to purchase excess "uninsured motorist coverage" on your own insurance policy so that you will be provided up to $500,000 rather than some minimal amount such as $25,000. In any case, just make sure you have at least the minimal uninsured coverage of $25,000.

This is the secret that the insurance companies do not tell the public. So many of my clients tell me that they are "fully insured" when I ask if they have uninsured motorist coverage but the fact turns out to be that most of the time they simply have liability and comprehensive coverage and no uninsured motorist coverage whatsoever. Readers should contact their insurance carriers today to increase their uninsured motorist coverage to protect themselves and their families.

Finally, purchase a medical payments rider as part of your auto policy. You will be surprised how inexpensive $50,000 in medical payments coverage is. The beauty of medical payments coverage is that there are no deductibles, no out of packet payments and you can coordinate these benefits with your health insurance benefits to significantly leverage the $50,000. Of course, if you do not have health insurance, the benefit of medical payments coverage is all the more obvious.