Protect yourself against cost of injuries from car accident

Every year, the Florida legislature struggles with the issue of requiring car and truck owners to carry insurance if they injure someone. Right now, you are not required to carry insurance in case you hurt someone while driving your car.

That also means that there are drivers on the road who don’t have insurance in case they hurt you. You are only required to carry personal injury protection (PIP), which pays up to $10,000 in medical care or lost wages if you get hurt and $10,000 in property damage in case you damage someone’s property, usually another vehicle.

So what can you do to protect against someone who crashes a vehicle into you and injures you, but doesn’t have any insurance? You can write your state legislator and ask for the law to be changed, or you can purchase uninsured motorist coverage, known by the initials “UM.” It’s available to anyone who purchases bodily injury liability coverage, also called “BI.”

BI is optional. If you want UM, you have to buy BI. Insurance isn’t cheap, but is worth having if someone else injures you and doesn’t have coverage. Even if the other person has coverage, it may not be enough to cover your injuries, so in that case, you can use your UM.

It doesn’t look like the state legislature is going to make BI mandatory. If you can afford them, BI and UM are valuable coverages you should have on your car or truck. You should have them if you own a motorcycle too. If you get into a motor vehicle crash, either way, you’re covered.

If you have any questions or comments about this, I’ll be glad to discuss them with you.

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