At best, an uninsured motorist is a nuisance. I know. I was recently rear-ended by an uninsured motorist. Some would even consider uninsured motorists as law breaking, irresponsible people.
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How large is the uninsured motorist problem?
By law there should be no such thing as an uninsured motorist. Other than New Hampshire and Virginia, every state requires drivers to have liability insurance. However, not everyone conforms to these laws.
The number of uninsured motorists varies significantly by state. According to the most recent information published by the Insurance Information Institute* (III), only 4.5% of drivers in Maine are uninsured. Conversely, Florida had the highest percentage of uninsured motorists. In Florida, 26.7% of drivers do not have liability insurance. Overall, 13% of drivers in the U.S. do not have the required insurance.
13% translates into one in eight drivers. Think about that. One of every eight cars you pass on the road is uninsured. This means the odds of being in an accident with an uninsured driver is higher than most people would imagine.
How to Protect Yourself Against an Uninsured Motorist
There are two options, and one necessary step, for protecting yourself. One option is to have enough money saved to pay your own costs when hit by an uninsured motorist. The other option is to buy insurance to protect yourself.
The insurance you need to protect yourself from an uninsured motorist is considered optional in most states. Therefore, if you buy only the state minimum insurance coverage you might not be protected from an uninsured motorist. What you need to buy is insurance known as uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. This coverage is often called UM or UIM protection. This type of insurance is specifically for the purpose of covering your costs when the driver that was at fault either did not have insurance or did not have enough insurance.
For the purposes of this blog we are ignoring the subtleties of “no fault” insurance. No fault insurance only applies to drivers in 13 of the 50 states and has limited impact when accidents involve large losses. Practically speaking, accidents with large losses are the type of accident about which you need to be most concerned.
The necessary step is to make sure you buy insurance through a company that has proven themselves to be good about paying claims. Find out how your insurance company rates by getting a free ValChoice rating. Just click the button below.
Answering the question “What’s worse than an uninsured motorist?”
You have probably already figured out the answer to this question. The nightmare scenario is not having UM or UIM coverage. When hit by an uninsured motorist, if you don’t have UM or UIM coverage, you are responsible for all the costs to your car, yourself and your passengers.
There are scenarios where UM or UIM coverage may not matter to you. Here’s one. Your car is old and isn’t worth much. You have excellent health insurance for yourself and family members. You rarely, or never, have non-family member passengers travel with you. In this case, the largest financial exposure is medical bills for you and your family. However, you already have excellent health insurance. If you meet this profile, you may be able to justify not having UM/UIM insurance.
Make Sure You’re Insured by One of The Best Insurance Companies
ValChoice uses the best quality data, collected by state departments of insurance, to rate insurance companies. Not only do we rate these companies, we list the best companies. Click the button below to find the best car insurance companies in your state.
Consumers Deserve Insurance Transparency
At ValChoice we believe that anyone required to buy a product or service deserves to know the quality of the service they must buy. Transparency has never before been available for insurance. Technology drives the change that makes transparency possible. Hence, our mission is to provide this much needed information to consumers.
Unfortunately, most people don’t know if they buy insurance from a good provider. Finally, it’s possible to know. The ValChoice analytics engine grades companies on value, claims handling and service. Get a report on your company so you know how good of an insurance provider they really are.
Learn what to expect from your insurance company with our free report. Get the Premium version to have their score on claims handling included. The claims handling score is a comparison of how the insurer performs compared to all other insurance companies. Click the button below to get a report card on your insurance
* Insurance Information Institute. Data from 2015.
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