Your Auto Insurance Coverage

In these tough and uncertain economic times, the last thing most families want to do is to obligate themselves to pay larger monthly auto insurance premiums. What you may not realize is that the savings of ten or fifteen dollars a month in insurance premiums may cost you dearly if you are in a car accident.

Take this scenario for example: middle aged family man gets home from work one afternoon. He decides to head out for a haircut. While driving through an intersection with a green light, his car is struck by another motorist who neglects to stop for the red light. The man driving to the haircut is seriously injured. It takes some time for him to recover from his injuries. The person who caused the wreck has a minimum limits Virginia liability auto insurance policy ($25,000.00). So does the injured man who turns out to be our client. For settlement purposes, the man’s personal injury case is worth in the neighborhood of $85,000.00.

He will never be fully compensated because the most he can recover from insurance in this example is $25,000.00. Had the client raised his own insurance coverage to $100,000.00, he would have been able to recover the full settlement value of his claim by tapping into the underinsurance coverage available under in his own auto policy. The cost per month for this additional insurance coverage would only have been about the same as he would have paid for a decent haircut! This situation is not an isolated incident. We have had numerous clients from our Car Accident Lawyers at Rutter Mills who have been in the same or worse situations.

You must plan ahead to protect yourself and your family from the risk of being the victim of someone’s carelessness. Look at your insurance policy. If you have minimum liability and underinsured motorist coverage ($35,000.00), speak with your insurance agent or insurance company. Get quotes for premiums that will give you higher policy limits. Then make a decision that will protect you and your loved ones from being a victim of the negligence of another.