Robert L. Mertig

R. Clayton Allen

Authors: Bob Mertig & R. Clayton Allen, Esquire

When you purchase auto insurance in Virginia(1), there are several types of coverage on the policy that are optional.  One of these is Medical Payments coverage.  Medical Payments coverage is a “first party coverage” which you may purchase in addition to the basic liability coverage when you insure your vehicle in Virginia.  By law, the insurance company must offer this coverage to you.[2] Medical Payments coverage reimburses you for medical expenses even if the bill has been paid by your health insurance provider, as long as the treatment was for an injury involving a motor vehicle.[3]

By law, the medical payment coverage will pay, up to the limit of the coverage, for those expenses incurred for services rendered within three (3) years from the date of the accident.  It applies to anyone who may be occupying your vehicle with permission.  The coverage also applies if you are struck by an automobile while as a pedestrian, a bicyclist, or even as a passenger in someone else’s car or on a motorcycle.  However, if you are operating another vehicle that you own that is covered by a policy that does not have medical payments coverage, then you are not covered.  Medical payments coverage also pays regardless of who is at fault or any other insurance coverage that may applies to the same expenses.  So even if you are driving down the road, fall asleep at the wheel, run off the road and hit a tree, medical payments coverage will pay your medical expenses for any injuries you sustain.

Medical payments coverage is good coverage to have for a lot of reasons.  First, auto accidents are the most common cause of serious injuries in the United States today.  Second, many times health insurance has deductibles or co-pays, so that you may still owe a significant amount after health insurance pays their part.  Medical payments coverage will help pay most or all of that, so that you don’t end up having to pay out of your pocket. Third, medical payments coverage is relatively inexpensive. Often a limit of two to five thousand dollars may cost less than fifty dollars a year. Fourth, medical payments coverage covers not only you but your spouse and children who live with you also.

Check the Declaration Page of your auto insurance policy to see if you have medial payments coverage.[4] If you don’t, then discuss purchasing this coverage with your insurance agent.  You can add this coverage at any time.  Many of our clients who don’t have this coverage wish they did.[5]

About the Authors: Bob Mertig is a claims consultant working under the supervision of Petersburg accident attorney Paul Hux. Bob assists clients in resolving their personal injury claims. Clayton Allen is a Richmond accident attorney and is a seasoned litigator. He has successfully handled all types of personal injury cases including brain injury, car accidents, trailer trailer accidents and wrongful death.

[2] See Va. Code §38.2-2201, at http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+38.2-2201 .

[3] The form Personal Auto Insurance Policy in Virginia states the injury must be caused by an accident and either while “occupying” a motor vehicle or being struck as a pedestrian. “Occupying” is defined as “in, upon, or getting in, out or off” of a motor vehicle.  (There are further exclusions limiting coverage to only four wheel motor vehicles and those designed for use mainly on public roads).  See Personal Auto Insurance Form Policy at http://www.scc.virginia.gov/division/boi/webpages/auto/PP00010105.pdf.

[4] The “Declaration Page” is the page that shows your name and address, the policy number, what vehicles are covered, what coverages you have, and the premium for each overage.  Normally the word “Declarations” appears somewhere on the page.

[5]This article attempts to summarize what medical payments coverage is and what it covers. There are a number of conditions, exceptions, and limitations which apply and are beyond the scope of this article. For more information, consult with an attorney who specializes in Automobile Insurance claims.

Attorney Priscilla R. Woody

Author: Attorney Priscilla R. Woody

When I first meet a client who have been injured through no fault of their own, one of my first questions is: “How much insurance do you have?” Most clients answer, “I have full coverage.” However, when we review their declaration page and policy, the clients are surprised to learn that they have minimal insurance coverage on their vehicles. The confusion comes from a misunderstanding of what the terms “full coverage”, liability coverage and “amount of coverage” actually mean.

The situation becomes more difficult when we learn that the person that injured the client either doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance. The high cost of new automobiles, automobile repair work and health care often means the minimal limit required under the Commonwealth of Virginia laws ($25,000/$50,000/$20,000) is not enough money to cover the clients’ damages and pain and suffering.1

Although you can never be certain that a driver who injures you will have insurance or enough insurance, your ability to buy additional uninsured (UM) and underinsured (UIM) motorist coverage gives you control over your own financial security. The amount of UM/UIM coverage you purchase will equal the amount of liability coverage unless you specifically request a lower amount.

UM/UIM coverage protects you in the event you are injured by a driver who does not have insurance, a driver with liability coverage less than your total uninsured motorist coverage, a driver whose liability limits are not enough to cover your losses or a John Doe (hit-and-run unknown driver). If you can afford more than the minimum required limits, you should buy more insurance to protect yourself against others you may injure or those that may injure you.

Liability Only Car Insurance

Within the auto insurance field, the terms “full coverage”, liability coverage and “amount of coverage” mean different things and there are many levels between “full coverage” and “liability only”. Automobile insurance can best understood by first fully comprehending the differences between “full coverage” and liability only coverage.

Liability coverage is insurance that covers damage you cause to other people and their property. As suggested above, it may be wise to carry coverage in excess of the minimum limits. For example, if in Virginia you were in an accident that caused $100,000 in bodily injury damages to another motorist, your insurance would only cover the first $25,000. For the other $75,000 the injured motorist could come after you personally! But we often see the flip side – if you were injured person with over $100,000 in bodily injury damages and the motorist who caused the accident only had a 25/50/25 policy; if you also had minimum limits you would not be fully compensated for your loss because you could only get the $25,000 limit from the at fault motorist’s insurance company. However if you had a $100,000 UM/UIM policy, you could collect $75,000 from your insurance company for your damages; or if you had $50,000 a UM/UIM policy, you could collect $50, 000 from your insurance company.2

In Virginia, the required minimum insurance limits by law are liability coverage for bodily injury or death of one person in the amount of $25,000; bodily injury or death of two or more persons of $50,000; and property damage coverage of $20,000.3 When referring to liability limits, the insurance industry uses an abbreviation that can be confusing. The required minimum limits are designed as $25,000 / $50,000 / $20,000 or 25/50/20; these designations refer to the maximum amount that an insurance company will pay out under the three basic liability coverages. Some policies have a single limit of liability where some insurance companies sell a policy that covers bodily injury liability per person, bodily injury liability per accident, and property damage liability but does not have separate limits. The single limit must be at least $70,000 to satisfy the financial responsibility laws although limits up to $1,000,000 can be purchased. This limit of liability applies to all bodily injury and property damage liability losses that occur as a result of any one accident for which the insured is legally liable.
Full Coverage

The term “full coverage” can be misleading because there are a number of optional coverages – in addition to liability coverage – that you can buy. Generally “full coverage” includes collision coverage and comprehensive coverage. Collision coverage is an optional add-on to comprehensive – although it isn’t optional if you still owe money on your car because the finance company or bank usually requires this coverage. Collision coverage can be a required part of your car insurance coverage if your vehicle is financed or leased.

Finance companies require borrowers to carry full car insurance coverage on their vehicles- collision and comprehensive – because they want to be assured that if the car is damaged or destroyed, they can recover their money back. Comprehensive insurance coverage help pays for damage to your vehicle not covered by collision. Examples include damage or loss due to theft, vandalism, falling objects, fire, storms, flood, and certain other natural disasters. Collision coverage helps pay for damage to your vehicle if you hit another vehicle, another vehicle hits you, or your vehicle rolls over. The insurance companies confuse the issue by including accidents with animals as part of comprehensive coverage, rather than collision.4

Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage helps pay for damage to you and your vehicle if there is injury and property damage in an accident caused by an uninsured, underinsured, or unidentified driver.

Medical expense benefits pay for medical costs for you and your passengers in the event of an accident regardless of who is at fault.

Loss of income due to injuries from an automobile accident is important if you do not already have some short term or long term disability benefits.

Rental car reimbursement pays for rental car and other transportation such as a bus or subway if you car cannot be driven due to an at-fault accident or comprehensive claim.

Towing and labor reimburse for towing and roadside assistance charges if a vehicle with car insurance coverage is disabled. Typical services include battery jump starting, tire changing, and locksmith services.

How Much $$$ Should You Spend

So having “full coverage” may not be the same as having an amount of coverage which covers your potential risk. The amount of coverage you need is correlated to the amount of assets you have and the amount of money that you can afford to pay for coverage. But higher limits of coverage also protect you in case the driver who injures you does not have sufficient coverage to compensate you for your injuries and losses, because you can use your underinsured coverage when that happens. The key is to decide how much you can pay in the event of an accident without causing financial hardship.

If you do not have insurance, anything of value that you own including your home, savings, future wages and other assets, may be taken to pay for those losses. Liability insurance will protect you so this does not happen. Liability insurance pays for a lawyer to defend you against any claim or lawsuit.

You should purchase auto insurance in case you cause an automobile accident and you may be responsible for losses of other people involved. A claim may be made or a lawsuit filed against you for those losses. You may have to pay not only for the property damage you cause, but also for the medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other losses you cause to someone else. The amount of money you may have to be pay could be substantial.

You should also purchase auto insurance to cover your injuries or damages to your vehicle. These optional coverages will pay you for your losses whether or not you caused the accident.5

About the Author: Priscilla Woody is a car accident attorney with the law firm of Allen & Allen. Priscilla works primarily in the Richmond office of the personal injury law firm.

2 – For more information, see blog articles “Auto Insurance – The Coverages You Should Have BEFORE You Are Involved In An Accident “ at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/auto-insurance.html, and “Look Out For The Other Guy – Uninsured and Under Insured Motorist Coverage’ at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/look-out-for-the-other-guy-uninsured-and-under-insured-motorist-coverage.html.

3 – See Va. Code sec. 46.2-472 at http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+46.2-472.

4 – For a fuller explanation of what these coverages are, see blog article “Auto Insurance – The Coverages You Should Have BEFORE You Are Involved In An Accident“ at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/auto-insurance.html.

5 – See also blog article “How Much Insurance Coverage Should You Buy?” at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/how-much-auto-insurance-should-you-buy.html.

Robert L. Mertig, Claims Consultant

Author: Robert L. Mertig

To purchase license plates or decals, you must certify that the vehicle is covered by the minimum insurance requirements or pay the “Uninsured Motor Vehicle Fee”. Insurance requirements also apply to antique motor vehicles. Virginia requires the following minimum coverage:

- Bodily injury/death of one person $25,000
- Bodily injury/death of two or more persons $50,000
- Property damage $20,000

The $500 Uninsured Motor Vehicle (UMV) fee, which is paid to the Department of Motor Vehicles, (DMV), does not provide any insurance; it only allows you to drive an uninsured vehicle at your own risk. It expires with your registration and must be paid at renewal.

Registering or driving a vehicle without insurance or without paying the uninsured motor vehicle fee will result in fines and other penalties.

Fee’s from penalties (fines) and those paying the UM fee of $500 comprise the Uninsured Motorists Fund. The SCC (State Corporation Commission) distributes money from the fund to the insurance companies writing motor vehicle bodily injury and property damage liability insurance on motor vehicles registered in Virginia. Funds distributed by the SCC are used to help offset the cost of the uninsured motorist coverage required for all liability insurance policies written in Virginia.

If you choose to pay the Uninsured Motorist fee, then you can drive violating the law against driving a vehicle without auto insurance. However, if you cause an accident resulting in damages, your driver’s license can be suspended until you pay the damages. In addition, if you obtain automobile insurance instead of paying the fee, you not only protect yourself against being personally responsible for damages you may cause, but you also protect yourself, as well as other occupants and drivers of your car, from suffering losses if you are injured by an uninsured motorist. (Under Virginia law, if you purchase basic liability insurance, you automatically get uninsured motorist coverage, too).

So – be smart! Buy auto insurance to protect you and your family members, as well as those who drive or ride in your car.

About the Author: Bob is claims consultant for the Petersburg personal injury law firm Allen & Allen. A former insurance adjuster, Bob works under the supervision of Attorney Paul Hux to assist clients in settling their personal injury claims.

Attorney P. Christopher Guedri

As a lawyer who specializes in the handling of personal injury claims, I often encounter clients that have been injured in serious motor vehicle accidents. Over the years, I have found that many clients don’t know what types of coverage they have on their vehicles, the amount of the coverage they purchased, or how the answers to these questions may impact their case or our handling of it. In this article, I will attempt to generally outline the types of coverage that are typically available to purchasers of auto insurance and how to best protect yourself and your family in the event of a motor vehicle accident.

Bodily Injury Liability Coverage
Bodily Injury (BI) Liability Coverage protects the owner or driver of a vehicle for all sums which the insured becomes legally obligated to pay because of bodily injury to an injured third party. This coverage also pays defense costs against legal actions. Bodily injury liability limits are often split. The first figure is the limit of payment to a single person per accident and the second figure is the limit of payment in total for all persons injured in a single accident. For example, bodily injury liability limits of $100,000/$300,000 means the maximum amount that an insurance company can be called upon to pay on behalf of its insured is $100,000 to any one person injured in a single accident. This limit also means the insurance company will pay no more than a total of $300,000 to all persons injured in a single accident, regardless of how many persons are injured. This type of coverage will protect you and members of your family from being personally liable up to the limits of the coverage, should you or a family member negligently cause an accident that results in bodily injury to another.

Property Damage Liability Coverage
Insurance policy limits are often cited with three numbers. The third number is the Property Damage (PD) Liability Coverage. This coverage is similar to Bodily Injury Liability Coverage but is limited to damage caused by you to another person’s property, such as an auto, fence, telephone pole, garage or dwelling. As the name indicates, this coverage is limited to damage caused to property, and does not include injury to persons. This coverage will protect you or a family member who negligently causes damage to or destruction of another’s property.

Collision Coverage
Collision Coverage, if purchased, protects your vehicle against direct and accidental loss or damage as a result of a collision with another vehicle or fixed object. This coverage is optional. Collision Coverage obligates your insurance company to repair or replace the insured vehicle if damaged or destroyed by a collision with another vehicle or fixed object.

Comprehensive Coverage
Comprehensive coverage, also known as “other than collision coverage” obligates your insurance company to repair or replace your vehicle for damage or destruction resulting from an event other than a collision with another vehicle or fixed object. For example, damage is covered resulting from vandalism, riot, flood, wind and hail, fire or theft. This coverage is also optional.

Medical Expense/Medical Payments Coverage
Medical Payments (MP) Coverage is insurance coverage that pays up to a specified amount for medical expenses incurred as a result of a motor vehicle accident. This coverage pays regardless of who is at fault. “Med pay” and “med expense” coverage is typically provided in increments of $1,000, $2,000, or $5,000. In Virginia, a statute requires that med pay/med expense coverage is automatically “stacked” to provide the policyholder with the stated benefit multiplied by the number of vehicles insured under the policy up to a maximum of four (4). For example, if you have a limit of $2,000 and three vehicles on the policy, you actually have a limit of $6,000 available to you.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage
Uninsured Motorist (UM) Bodily Injury Coverage protects you and any occupants of your vehicle for bodily injury up to your policy limits as a result of an accident with a legally liable uninsured motorist or hit-and-run driver. This coverage protects an “insured” under the policy in the event that one of them is injured as a pedestrian. It also covers an “insured” while occupying a motor vehicle who is injured as a result of the negligence of a driver that is uninsured, or a driver who leaves the scene and is never identified. In Virginia, for example, a person who buys automobile insurance receives the same amount of uninsured motorist (UM) coverage as they have purchased bodily injury liability insurance unless they specifically request uninsured motorist coverage that is less than the liability coverage they purchased. The theory for this is that a policyholder should have the same rights to collect from their own insurance company if they are injured as a result of the negligence of an uninsured motorist as they have protected themselves against liability to a third party that may be injured as a result of the policyholder’s negligence.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Underinsured Motorist (UIM) Coverage is very similar to uninsured motorist coverage except that it provides coverage to an “insured” under the policy who is injured by someone who does have auto insurance but whose liability insurance limits are less than the uninsured motorist (UM) limits that the policyholder has secured. For example, if you, the policyholder, have purchased uninsured motorist (UM) coverage of $300,000 per person and are seriously injured by a motorist who has only $100,000 per person of available liability insurance, then you can make a claim against your insurance company for the difference between your uninsured motorist limits and the at-fault driver’s liability limits. In this example, you could collect $100,000 from the negligent driver’s liability insurance company and then collect up to $200,000 from your own company under the underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage you have.

Towing and Labor Coverage
If your vehicle is temporarily disabled on the road, this coverage will pay your actual expense up to the amount of coverage you select and pay for to have your vehicle towed or for roadside labor to repair your auto.

A Word To The Wise . . .
With skyrocketing medical expenses, the costs associated with a serious injury can be very high. Medical expenses for a routine hip surgery, for example, can exceed $75,000 when the total costs of a four day hospital stay, the surgical fees, anesthesia costs, post-operative follow up care, and physical therapy are added together. Since an injured person’s medical expenses are a large part of what they are entitled to collect when injured as a result of the negligence of someone else, we often encourage clients to obtain at least $300,000 of liability insurance. This amount of coverage will protect you or a family member from liability to a third party up to a maximum of $300,000.

Unless specifically rejected, with that limit you will automatically receive the same amount of uninsured and underinsured (UM & UIM) protection for injuries and losses that you or a family member may receive as a result of an accident involving an uninsured or underinsured motorist. We also encourage our clients to secure the optional med pay or med expense (MP) coverage as this coverage will reimburse the policyholder and its family members for medical expenses incurred as a result of an accident regardless of who is at fault and, in Virginia, independent of whether the person also has hospitalization insurance which will pay the health care providers directly.

Collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, and towing coverages are optional. We would suggest that you consult with your insurance agent regarding the cost of this coverage to determine if it is protection that you want and are willing to pay the premium for.

I hope this article is helpful to you and your family in making your coverage decisions regarding your auto insurance. Being well insured is your best protection against the consequences of a serious accident – whether you are at fault or you are the victim.

About the Author: Chris Guedri is a personal injury attorney in the Richmond office of Allen & Allen. Since joining the firm in 1991, Chris has focused his practice on car accidents, trucking accidents, products liability, and premises liability litigation.

Attorney Elizabeth M. Allen

How much automobile insurance should you buy?

The answer is easy: As much as you can afford.

The primary reason to buy automobile insurance, both liability and uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, is to protect you and your assets. Your insurance company will almost never pay more in damages, to you or to a person you negligently injure, than the dollar amount of the coverage you paid for, no matter how high a verdict there may be either against you or for you. Sound complicated? I’ll illustrate with two hypothetical examples, one involving liability insurance coverage and one involving underinsured motorist coverage.

Liability Coverage Example
Suppose you buy a policy with limits of $25,000/50,000 in auto liability insurance coverage.2 As a result, you would be personally responsible for payment of the remaining $50,000! The injured person would likely seek to recover this amount from your savings and other assets. This is a harsh result, I am sure you would agree, and one you would want to avoid.

What would happen if you had purchased a policy with higher limits of $100,000/$300,000? Since the verdict is less than your limit, your insurance company would pay the injured person the entire judgment amount of $75,000. Consequently, you would not be obligated to pay any part of the judgment yourself. To sum it up, the more insurance coverage you buy, the less likely it is that you will ever be called upon personally to pay any part of a legal judgment against you.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) Example
Your purchase of high insurance limits can also help you or your family members when one or more of you are injured through the fault of another driver. This might occur if you and/or relatives who live with you sustain serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident, and the negligent driver who caused the accident has less insurance coverage than you do.

How does this work? Suppose you were in an auto accident that was someone else’s fault, and you were injured. Suppose your injuries and losses are serious, and your medical bills and lost wages are substantial. In your lawsuit against the driver at fault, a jury awards you $100,000 in damages. /Now suppose the driver at fault has purchased an auto insurance policy with $25,000/$50,000 limits, and you have an auto insurance policy that provides $100,000/$300,000 limits in UM/UIM coverage. The at-fault driver’s insurance company will pay you only $25,000, which is the maximum amount of liability coverage the defendant bought which can be paid to one person with respect to one accident. (When limits of insurance coverage are stated as “$25,000/$50,000, the first number is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay to any one person injured in an accident, and the second number is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay to all claimants in a single accident, regardless of how many injured persons there are).

However, you can look to your own UM/UIM coverage to see if there is underinsurance coverage (UIM) available to you. Under Virginia law, if the limit of the UM coverage available to you is greater than the limit of the at-fault driver’s liability coverage, then he is considered “underinsured” with respect to you and you will have underinsurance coverage on your own policy to give you extra coverage.3 The availability of underinsurance coverage depends on a comparison between a specific at-fault driver’s total liability coverage, and the total limit of UM coverage on the injured person. (Sometimes either the at-fault driver or the injured person may be able to add together or “stack” several insurance policies). In the example above, since the verdict is $100,000 and the at-fault driver only has $25,000 liability coverage, his insurance company would pay the first $25,000 of the verdict. Then your insurance company would pay you $75,000 under you UIM coverage, because that’s the amount by which your own UM motorist coverage exceeds the at-fault driver’s liability coverage limit of $25,000. By adding your $75,000 in underinsurance coverage to the defendant’s $25,000 liability limits, the entire $100,000 judgment you won in court would be paid in full.

Now suppose instead that you had only purchased an auto insurance policy with a $25,000/$50,000 limit in UM coverage. In the accident described above, your insurance company wouldn’t pay you anything because your UM insurance coverage of $25,000/$50,000 is not any higher than the at-fault driver’s own $25,000/$50,000 liability limits. Yes, you can still pursue the at-fault driver personally through collection after trial. However, the average at-fault driver has few assets and collecting on a judgment can be a long, expensive, and often futile endeavor. In the end, it is always better to carry high liability/UM insurance limits yourself and ensure that you and your own family are protected in the event one or more of you sustains severe injuries caused by the negligence of a driver with low automobile insurance coverage limits.4

2 When you see a figure like $25,000/$50,000 in relation to an auto policy, it means the limits are “split”, that is, one injured person can recover a maximum of $25,000 under the policy while $50,000 is the most coverage the insurance company will pay out to all injured persons regardless of the number of people injured in the same accident or how badly they may be injured.

3 In Virginia, you may be entitled to undersinsured motorist coverage under more than one policy, and these policies can sometimes be “stacked” to give you more coverage. Va. Code § 38.2-2206. This is a complex area of law, and it is wise to consult an attorney to explore whether there is underinsurance in your case.

4 In Virginia, you cannot buy UM coverage in an amount that is higher than your auto
liability insurance limits.

About the Author: Elizabeth Morrell Allen has been engaged in the practice of personal injury law for over 30 years at the law firm Allen & Allen. From 1988 to 2004, Beth served as a branch manager of the firm’s Petersburg, Virginia office.

There’s not much you can do to prevent a car crash caused by someone else, but there is a lot you can do to protect yourself from the consequences of being hit by an uninsured or underinsured motorist.

The economic downturn has increased the number of uninsured cars on the road. According to The Insurance Research Council, in 2003 14.9% of cars on the road were uninsured. As the economy improved, that dropped to 13.8% by 2007. However, as the economy has weakened, the percentage of uninsured cars on the road has started back up. For each 1% increase in the unemployment rate, the Insurance Research Council has found a ¾% increase in the uninsured motorist rate. By 2010, 16.1% of all cars on the road are expected to be uninsured.

So what can you do to protect your family against an uninsured motorist? The first thing you can do is to find and read the Declarations page of your family automobile insurance policy. The Declarations page is often the opening page of the policy. It has the name of the insurance company at the top, your name and address as the insured, and a listing of all the vehicles insured by the policy. Near each vehicle listed you will find the coverage provided by the policy.

The next thing to do is to determine whether you have sufficient limits of insurance coverage on your policy. The two basic coverages on every policy are Liability Coverage and Uninsured/Underinsured Coverage. The first listed is Liability Coverage, usually listed in an amount such as 25/50, 50/100, or 100/300. This means that if you are at fault and hit someone, the company will pay up to these limit amounts multiplied by $1000. For example, 25/50 means your insurance company will pay up to $25,000 for any one person injured in the accident, and up to $50,000 total for all persons injured in one crash. 25/50 is the minimum limits required by Virginia law and the minimum you can have, but $25,000 does not go very far in these days of expensive medical care.

The other required coverage is Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM/UIM). Your insurance company must provide UM/UIM limits equal to the Liability limits, unless you choose lower UM/UIM limits. That is a terrible idea; you don’t want to do that. UM/UIM Coverage is all that stands between you and possible financial disaster if you or a family member are seriously hurt in a car crash.UM/UIM coverage obligates your company to step in and provide insurance up to your UM/UIM policy limits if the other driver who causes injury has no insurance or has a lower limit than you do. UM/UIM coverage covers every member of your household even if you or another member is hurt as a passenger in someone else’s car.

So look at your UM/UIM coverage. What if you were badly hurt in a crash and couldn’t work for several months? Is the amount of your UM/UIM coverage adequate to compensate you for your injuries and losses? If not, call your agent and ask about increasing the limits. The cost of additional coverage is surprisingly little when you consider the next out of control car may not be insured.