Any lawyers on here handle car accidents?

[linebacker]

I totally understand that. My problem is that my truck was totaled by someone who has this type of insurance that is sold in Florida. No matter how much it cost to replace my truck their insurance will only pay $10,000 max. Therefore my insurance company will have to pay the rest. This is b/s.

 

[Mr. Goodbar]

That's for property damage to the other party. You auto insurance has 3 statutorily required components.

You will see some numbers like 25/100/10

The first number is the most YOUR company will pay for ONE individual's personal injuries.

The second number is the most YOUR insurance company will pay for the injuries to ALL the people you run over. In my example, you run over 6 people, they all don't get 20K

The last number is the most YOUR insurance company will pay for damage to the property of another. I haven't checked recently, but as far as I know $25,000 is the minimum for GA. This figure hasn't kept up with the increased value of vehicles. If that is your minimum, you personally will be on the hook for the difference between 25K and the damages to property - If you cannot pay that and you are sued, you can lose your driver's license.

Most people blow this off, although it is the coverage mostly likely to result in your personal liability for damages. Insurance companies don't push higher limits because they lose money on them - they are much happier if you are self insured for the damage you do to others.

Now if you have a vehicle worth more than $25,000, the risk of loss above that amount is on YOU. If your vehicle is financed you are going to be making payments on a vehicle sitting in a scrapyard, and not much you can do about that situation.

"Uninsured motorist's" insurance protects you against being damaged by a person with no insurance. Thanks to those liberal Georgia Courts, it also protects you when you have damages that exceed the amount of insurance the at fault party has - this is referred to as "underinsured coverage". It's not separate coverage, just how your UM coverage is interpreted.

The kicker is that UM coverage is optional for the insured. You have to sign a waiver to not purchase it, but 90% of the people signing it don't realize what they have done. UM insurance is insurance for YOUR injuries.

IMO most working and middle class Georgians are vastly underinsured on their UM coverage (not enough insurance). Agents don't push it, and most people don't fully understand how it works, and it's another 20 dollars a month premium they can do without. Especially considering we have something like half a million Mexicans one bus ticket away from Old Mexico.

So helpful hint for today is, review your own property damage limits in light of today's value for vehicles and repairs, and especially review your UM (does not mean "uninsured Messican" ) insurance.

I learned the hard way about um coverage