Atlanta drivers often tell me they carry "full coverage." But when I ask them if they carry Uninsured Motorist (UM) insurance they do not know. UM insurance is absolutely essential coverage and it is very inexpensive. You can add it today simply by calling your insurance agent or company and telling them you want it.
Please purchase UM coverage! I don't want any person to miss an opportunity to make sure they and their family truly have "full coverage" - often people find out they do not when it is too late to do anything about it - after they have an accident or injury.
I have good news for Georgia drivers! Soon UM coverage will be even better for Georgia consumers. That is because of a new law, effective January 1, 2009, that expands the options available for UM coverage. I have been blogging about this new law that changes UM coverage for the last week or so.
If you have read the previous posts in this series you will know that under the law as it used to be be consumers often did not get what they had paid for. That is because under the old law it was possible to pay for UM coverage but not be entitled to any UM benefits when you were injured in a wreck. This was due to something called the "liability set off".
The "liability set off" essentially was a way for your insurance company to not pay you. Here is how it worked. Assume the following facts:
You are injured in a car wreck and your medical expenses total $100,000.00. The driver who caused your injuries only had $50,000.00 in liability coverage. You had $50,000.00 in UM coverage. The "liability set off" allowed your insurance company to subtract (or set off) the amount of the at-fault driver's liability coverage from the amount of your UM coverage, thereby reducing your benefits to nothing, zero, nada.
Here is how it worked under the old "set off" law:
At-fault driver = $50,000.00 Liability
Injured driver = $50,000.00 "set off" UM
Payment Due from UM coverage = $50,000.00 minus $50,000.00 = $0
Do you see the problem? In this scenario, you were getting no value out of the UM coverage you paid for.
What the new law does is allow you to purchase "stacking" UM coverage. "Stacking" refers to eliminating the "liability set off" and allowing consumers to get the full benefit of what they pay for. Instead of subtracting (or getting a "set off") for the amount of the at-fault driver's liability coverage, your insurance company now has add (or "stack") the liability and UM coverages together and pay you the sum of the two coverages.
Now that is makes a lot more sense then the old way, doesn't it?
Tune in next time for the conclusion of this series on UM coverage.
