There seems to be two schools of thought on uninsured coverage: Either drop it completely, or buy as much as you can afford.
1. Drop It Completely, It’s a scam
This line of thinking states that you don’t need this if you get into an accident with an uninsured driver, because
a) Your health insurance will cover your medical bills.
b) Your collision insurance will cover your car damages, although you have to pay your deductible. With uninsured coverage, the deductible in Texas is $250.
There are a couple problems with this theory. First, you need good health insurance that covers you in a car accident. Some actually specifically exclude car crashes where it is someone else’s fault. Also, many people these days have a very high annual deductible, or even just have to pay 20% flat of all medical bills. And what about lost pay and also future wages? That can get pricey. And what if you had passengers. If they have no health insurance, they have no coverage.
Also, if you do not have collision coverage, your vehicle damage would not be covered at all.
2. Buy as much as you can afford
This theory basically focuses on the idea that this is where you are buying insurance for yourself and your family, versus liability coverage for others. Now, if you get hurt in an uninsured accident, you don’t have to depend on the guy with no or even the legal minimum $30k of coverage. You have your own $30k, $50k, $100k, $250k, or even $1M of coverage. No need to get your health insurance involved and pay and deductibles. Of course, this means you will be asking your own insurance company for money, and will probably want a lawyer on your side. You want to get everything you can, lost wages, future wages,”pain ansuffering” damages, etc.
And even if you only carry liability insurance and do not carry comprehensive and collision on your own vehicle, you should purchase uninsured motorist property damage to cover damages to your vehicle when hit by someone who has no insurance, or who doesn’t have enough.
It’s all about how much you’re paying and that risk/reward balance… What do you think?
Austin Insurance Group (512) 250-1660
Providing all types of insurance for Texans since 1994.