Automobile insurance law may be somewhat confusing to consumers. Many people believe that when they purchase "full coverage" they are fully protected from all consequences of an accident. Unfortunately, in Florida, "full coverage" may simply mean the basic coverage required by Florida law: Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage and Property Damage (PD) liability coverage.

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.

Your PIP coverage follows you around; i.e., if you're a passenger in your neighbor's car while involved in an accident your covers you. The wrongdoer (tortfeasor) may be responsible for medical and wage expenses that exceed or are not covered by your PIP.

What about those people that don't own a car? Well, someone else's PIP may cover them too. The State of Florida desires that everyone be covered by PIP. So, if you don't own a car but live with a relative that owns a car, you are permitted to use your relative's PIP. If you don't own a car and don't live with a relative, you may be covered by the PIP of the car that you were in at the time of the accident. If you don't own a car, don't live with a relative that owns a car, and you were a pedestrian at the time of the accident, you may be covered by the PIP on the car that hit you. Finally, your insurance rates will not be increased simply by making a claim against your PIP. It is Florida No-Fault Insurance, it does not matter who was to blame.

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 may be called "full coverage" in Florida. But this is NOT enough insurance coverage to fully protect you or your family.

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 and provides a good value.

Liability (Bodily Injury) Coverage

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 from the driver or owner's Liability or Bodily Injury Coverage. However, the at fault party must have Bodily Injury (BI) liability insurance for you to be able to make a claim against his/her insurance company 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. Regrettably, a large number of drivers do NOT carry Bodily Injury coverage. That makes the purchase of Uninsured Motorist coverage extremely important to you and your family.

Uninsured  Motorist Coverage: 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 BI coverage. If you purchase UM coverage, you will have coverage for your damages, even if the negligent driver did not have BI coverage.

If you have more than one car on your policy, you can buy "stacked" UM coverage, which increases the coverage available by combining the UM coverage purchased for each car on the policy. So, if you suffer severe damages at the hands of an uninsured driver and have purchased UM coverage of $100,000 on each of 2 cars, if you purchased "stacked" UM coverage, you may have $200,000 available to you to cover your damages.

UM insurance is valuable coverage you should have if you can afford it. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact us online or call 407-244-1212 or Toll Free at 800-381-8299 for your Free Consultation now.