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Automobile Insurance
Automobile
insurance law in Florida is confusing. Many people believe that
when they purchase "full coverage" they are fully protected
from all consequences of an accident. Those people may be wrong.
In Florida, "full coverage" only means you have the basic
coverage required by Florida law, namely Personal Injury Protection
(PIP) coverage and Property Damage (PD) liability coverage.
A policy of insurance may contain many different separate coverages.
Some are required and some are optional coverages. Some contain
deductibles and some do not. The number of different coverages you
can have under your policy is determined by how much you want to
pay for that coverage. The different coverages under a policy can
be Liability Coverage, Collision Coverage, Towing and Rental Coverage,
Uninsured Motorist Coverage and No-Fault or PIP Coverage. Some of
these coverages are discussed below.
PERSONAL
INJURY PROTECTION (PIP) COVERAGE
Florida
is a No-Fault State. PIP coverage is no-fault insurance that pays
80% of your medical bills and 60% of your lost wages, no matter
who is at fault for the accident. The most that can be paid under
PIP for medical bills and/or wages is $10,000.00.
PROPERTY
DAMAGE (PD)
Property
damage coverage protects you if you negligently damage someone else's
property with your car. It does not protect you from a claim made
by a person you injure due to your negligence.
Thus,
PIP and PD insurance are the only coverages that Florida law requires
you to buy. This is "full coverage" in Florida.
MED
PAY COVERAGE
Med
Pay coverage supplements your PIP benefits which pays only 80% of
your medical bills and 60% of lost wages out of the $10,000 PIP
limit.
Med
Pay coverage does two things: it pays the 20% of medical bills PIP
does not pay; and it lets you save your PIP coverage to pay your
lost wages. This is important if an accident causes you to miss
a significant amount of work. With Med Pay, your insurance company
must reserve your PIP coverage for your lost wages and pay your
medical bills out of the Med Pay coverage, until the Med Pay is
exhausted.
Med
Pay coverage is usually inexpensive. Be sure to inquire about the
cost of Med Pay.
IS
FULL COVERAGE OK?
Usually
not. If you are injured in an accident, you may be entitled to collect
damages from the at fault party for the medical bills and lost wages
not paid by PIP and for your pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment
of life and mental anguish. However, the at fault party must have
Bodily Injury (BI) liability insurance for you to be able to make
a claim for those damages. If the at fault party only has PIP and
PD, there won't be any insurance available from the at fault driver
to pay for any of your damages. If you assume the at-fault driver
will have adequate BI coverage, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.
PROTECTING
YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
Uninsured
Motorist coverage (UM) is designed to protect you if the negligent
driver does not have BI coverage. It takes the place of the at fault
driver's missing BI coverage. If you purchase UM coverage, you will
have coverage for your damages, even if the negligent driver did
not have BI coverage. As long as there are drivers with only PIP
and PD, you need UM coverage to be fully protected.
If you
have more than one car on your policy, be sure to buy "stacked"
UM coverage, which increases the coverage for each car on the policy.
VALUABLE
COVERAGE
UM
insurance is valuable coverage you should have. Many people are
driving today uninsured. Do not wait until you or a loved one has
an accident before you protect yourself.
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Mark A. Risi
2699 Lee Road, Suite 101 - Winter Park, FL 32789
Phone: 407-629-2484 Fax: 407-629-8275 Toll Free: 888-282-6529
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