What Kind of Automobile Insurance Do I Need?

Car Accident,FAQ,Personal Injury - March 28, 2024 by Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates

Suffering the Misery of Not Having Enough Insurance

For a Few Hundred or Less, You can Protect Yourself

Home and automobile insurance has changed and policy liability limits are so confusing many simply don’t realize they’re underinsured by today’s realities of risk. A frightening few have protection in the event of a severe injury, leading to a life devastated by bankruptcy, poverty and suffering.
What most fail to realize is that greater liability protection has never been more affordable or necessary. One simply has to ask for it, which is part of the problem. First, you have to be aware of it.

Just as an umbrella protects us from a downpour, an Umbrella Liability Policy can save you from getting financially drenched.
As an attorney who practices in the field of human misery and injury, failure to purchase an umbrella policy is the number one mistake American’s make when buying insurance. Time and again, I watch clients suffer the needless consequences, avoidable with better coverage. The main cost of insurance is the underlying, or basic policy. Adding an umbrella policy is far cheaper, typically around $25 a month or less, and protects you from disaster.
An umbrella policy is an extra layer of coverage for your car and home – one policy that provides additional liability coverage for both under the same umbrella. For example, you might have $50,000 in basic medical liability coverage on your auto policy. If you run a red light and strike a pedestrian, his medical bills could easily top fifty thousand or more. You could be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars; anything beyond the $50,000 limit of your policy. To protect yourself, you should purchase an umbrella policy, which would cover the injured person up to $1 Million or more, including damages from a lawsuit. The same additional coverage would also apply to someone injured at your home or on your property, all under one umbrella policy.
The worst injuries are usually caused by head on collisions, typically an inattentive or drunk driver. Do you have enough automobile insurance coverage to manage critical medical bills for life as a result? Suing someone who might not have any assets is not an option and can delay the care you need. What then?
The result to you can be many injuries including brain damage, loss of an arm, leg, paraplegia, quadriplegia, herniated discs, broken vertebrae, or a combination of acute injuries. Your medical bills could easily be over a hundred thousand dollars; more if you require special care for life. You could lose your career and the pride and dignity associated with having a good job.
When a family member is injured, especially a provider, the family suffers. These story lines take place in the offices of attorney’s everyday and can be avoided in most cases with the addition of a simple, inexpensive umbrella policy.
Most companies have changed their umbrella policies in recent years and only protect others from injury in which you are the property owner or person at fault in an auto accident. Newer umbrella policies may not cover your injuries caused by others. If your umbrella policy does not cover your personal medical costs, raising the personal medical limits of your automobile coverage (typically $5000 on most policies) to $100,000 is absolutely essential and costs (on average) $10 a month.

Carry the Maximum Automobile Insurance Underinsured Motorist Coverage

Most consumers have something called “underinsured motorist coverage” as part of their insurance policy. This coverage provides you extra protection if the driver who struck you doesn’t have enough coverage, but only to the limits of your policy. I find in 90 percent of the cases where a client is seriously injured, the driver who was at fault does not have enough insurance. I then look to our client’s underinsured motorist coverage and usually find that they’re underinsured as well. As a result, they are devastated.
Every person I have represented that has had a serious automobile injury has two regrets: One, that they were driving their car that day and two, that they didn’t have an umbrella or a higher amount of underinsured motorist coverage. The injured person always says to me, “I never knew”. “I never even read my policy”. “My insurance representative never told me of the importance of higher coverage and never told me about umbrella coverage”.
If I could impart to you one piece of advice about protecting yourself from the negligence of others, it would be to make sure that if you are employed that your employer is insured and two, if you are operating a car, make sure you have an umbrella policy that raises your liability coverage to at least one million dollars and a minimum of $100,000 personal medical coverage.
A million-dollar umbrella policy combined with higher limits for your personal medical needs are the most economical and pro-consumer products on the market today; reassurance at a reasonable price that will bridge your basic policy limitations and reduce your liability risk in the future.
Cliff Horwitz welcomes your comments on this article and can be reached at (800)-985-1819.You may still have a claim. Most drivers have what is called underinsured motorist coverage. Therefore they can go after their own insurance company for the difference in the value of their case and the amount of insurance coverage that the other driver has.You may still have a claim. In the state of Illinois, all drivers must have uninsured motorist coverage. Therefore, you would have a claim against your own insurance company.