Motor Vehicle Insurance Basics

According to the Insurance Research Council’s (IRC) 2015 motor vehicle statistics, one in every eight drivers on the nation’s roads is uninsured. This rate is even higher in Florida. In 2015 in Florida was first nationally with 26.7% of the state’s motorists were uninsured.

If a Florida driver purchases bodily injury liability insurance to protect said driver for the injuries that driver causes to another person in a crash, then motor vehicle insurance sales agents are required to sell Uninsured/Underinsured motorist insurance (UM) along with it.

However, Florida law does allow these insurance sales agents to side-step the requirement of selling UM insurance by obtaining a written “rejection” of UM insurance from the customer. Remember, the UM insurance covers the injuries suffered by the customer (you ), resident family members and often passengers, while the bodily injury liability insurance covers those the customer (you) injure in an accident that is the customers fault.

Think of it this way: if the customer (you) rejects UM and through no-fault of your own is seriously injured by an uninsured motorist, that UM rejection left you with NO motor vehicle insurance to cover the losses (medical bills, lost wages etc). Only the insurance company is left protected – from having to insure you!! Is it realistic to think a driver without motor vehicle insurance has the money outside of insurance to cover your Losses?

Why would an insurance company not want to sell you UM insurance? There can be many reasons. One is that motor vehicle insurance markets are very competitive and many consumers don’t fully understand exactly how the motor vehicle insurance policy works. So in order to ensure the sale and offer the lowest total price, insurance companies and agents can exclude certain portions of a motor vehicle insurance policy, such as UM insurance, in order to offer an attractive price. In this scenario, the common policy casualty via the agent proposing a “rejection” is the critical UM insurance.

Do not reject UM insurance. Frequently UM insurance isn’t expensive and will often end up being more important to you than the bodily injury – especially for safe drivers. Don’t let the insurance company give you a “better price” on your insurance policy by convincing you to “reject” UM insurance.

If you have any questions immediately contact Emerson Straw PL.