Should You Buy More Insurance?

To register a motor vehicle in Florida, motorists need to buy personal injury protection insurance, called PIP. These are no-fault benefits that will cover your injuries regardless of who caused a crash. Currently, the minimum PIP coverage is $10,000, which will pay for 80% of your medical bills and a smaller portion of your lost wages.

However, $10,000 is not much coverage. Even a moderate injury could cost two or three times that to treat, without even adding in the costs of lost wages. Fortunately, Florida motorists can buy additional insurance. Below, we will consider your options.

Extended Personal Injury Protection Benefits

No-fault benefits are convenient. You don’t have to wrangle with an insurer to get them to identify who caused the accident. If you want more PIP benefits, you can buy more. Insurance policies are available up to $100,000 in benefits, which can help cover you in your time of greatest need.

Medical Payment Coverage

Medical payments coverage will step in and coverage that portion of your medical bills that PIP will not cover. So if you incur $10,000 in medical bills, you will only have $8,000 covered. Your medical payments coverage can step in and cover what your PIP policy won’t.

Medical payment coverage is also no-fault. You can choose the amount you want, though many people recommend that you get at least $5,000 in coverage.

Bodily Injury Liability

Although Florida law has made it harder for accident victims to sue, they can still sue in certain circumstances, such as when they have a permanent bodily injury. In that case, they can sue you if you ended up causing the crash and are responsible for their injuries.

Bodily injury liability will cover you by paying out benefits to anyone you seriously hurt. This will protect your personal assets in the event of a lawsuit. So if you injure someone, they can’t sue and seize a vehicle, boat, or investment property to pay off their court judgment. You should probably get as much bodily injury liability as you can reasonably afford.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM)

This is terrific insurance to have. If you suffer a permanent injury because of another driver’s negligence, you can sue them. However, what if they don’t have any bodily injury liability insurance (which isn’t required in Florida)? Or what if they don’t have enough coverage to pay all the compensation you are owed?

In these situations, your UM coverage can kick in to compensate you. You can also buy UM insurance that is “stackable” based on the number of cars you have on the policy. Stacking can greatly increase the compensation available for catastrophic injuries.

Speak to Earnhart Law after a Car Accident

Car accidents are expensive. Many of our clients are confused about how they will pay their rent or mortgage when medical bills continue to arrive daily and they are too hurt to work.

If you need a settlement, reach out to our Delray Beach car accident lawyer at 561-265-2220 or by email message. We offer all people a free, no-risk initial consultation.

Resource:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0600-0699/0627/Sections/0627.736.html

https://www.delrayinjuryattorneys.com/floridas-dram-shop-law/