INSURANCE TIPS FROM A CITY JUDGE & PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY

Troubling times are here right now and there is no end in sight. Right now, people are doing their best to stay off the roads and stay at home. I commend them for that. We are all in this together. At some point, things will get back to normal and people will get out of the homes. However, financial times will be tough, very tough. People will have to make tough decisions on what to cut from their budgets. As a Municipal Judge, I handle most traffic citations. More than half of the tickets in my court are for people not having auto insurance, thus being uninsured. Auto insurance is already something that people choose to cut when times are tough. I would expect that trend to grow exponentially in the coming months. Please avoid this happening to you if you can! 

As a personal injury attorney, I represent people who are usually severely injured in a car wreck. Sadly, more times than not, the person at fault for the wreck either has no insurance or not enough insurance to cover the medical bills, lost wages, and loss of enjoyment of life that the injured party rightly deserves. This is where uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage comes into play with your insurance policy that you should already be paying for at the time of the wreck. If you have uninsured/underinsured coverage then your insurance company will come in to pay the medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering if the person that caused the wreck either did not have insurance or had too little insurance. Call your insurance company today and find out what you have! I am not here to spend other people’s money, but if you can, increase your limits. With so many people on the roads without any insurance it is important to have insurance that protects you when an uninsured or unlicensed driver causes the wreck that may forever change your life. 

Many times people evaluate the amount of liability insurance based on their own asset exposure (I have a house with $100,000 equity so I will need at least $100,000 of liability coverage on my automobile in case I cause a wreck). I would encourage you to take a different approach.  Consider the guilt and responsibility that would follow if you caused a wreck resulting in severe injuries to another individual or individuals if you did not have the necessary insurance coverage to account for the damages from your mistake. The takeaway should be, we are all not perfect drivers. Driving is one of the most dangerous things a person can do. Most of us have to do it daily. If something happens you want to be prepared.

 You should know that your insurance company will not allow you to have uninsured/underinsured coverage limits higher than your liability coverage, so you can protect yourself in multiple ways by increasing the limits on both.  I suspect you will be shocked to see how little of an increase to your insurance premiums when you compare an auto policy with minimum $25,000 limits with no uninsured/undersinsured coverage compared to an auto policy that has $250,000 liability and $250,000 uninsured/underinsured coverage.  Due to distracted driving and people’s lack of insurance, I am confident having auto insurance with at least limits for both liability and uninsured/underinsured of $250,000 is the most important insurance coverage you can have to protect you and your family. The Benjamin Franklin axiom that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is as true today as it was when Franklin made the quote. If you are in a wreck we are here to help. Even during this current pandemic, we can help you every step of the way. Call us before you report the claim to your insurance. 

Sincerely, 
Robbie Davis