Auto Insurance - Tips

As an attorney I often come to meet people at times when they need help and when they are hurting. Sure we occasionally prepare Wills or draft contracts for clients, but the majority of my clients are personal injury or family members in a death case. What I love most about my job is that I not only get to help individuals with their recovery but that I am part of the system of justice in our society. And while our civil justice system has come under increasing attack, and is by no means perfect, it seems to be the best method for giving the individual citizen of our great land the opportunity to attain justice.

However, the reality is that each person should take steps to protect themselves, because it is all to frequent that the person that negligently injures you has neither the insurance nor the assets to make you whole. I recently handled a case in which my client's medical bills and damages exceeded the liable parties insurance policy by about $20,000.00. In fact, South Carolina currently only requires automobile policies to have $15,000.00 per person of liability coverage. It only takes a short stay in a hospital or a surgery or two and this coverage will be more than exceeded by medical bills.

So what can you do?

The answer for automobile related injuries is fairly simple and usually not very expensive. Underinsured motorist coverage (also known as UIM) is available in South Carolina policies and it covers you when you are in an accident caused by another driver that does not have sufficient insurance coverage to pay your damages. Talk to your insurance agent about increasing your UIM coverage to at least $100,000.00 per person, and preferably more than that. In order to make this increase you will also need to increase your liability coverage, but the cost of the increased UIM coverage is usually quite low.

With the relatively low minimum insurance limits required for drivers in South Carolina and the increasing cost of health care, it makes sense to have your UIM coverage boosted.