i am going to explain how and why uninsuredmotorist insurance is the best insurance you can buy to protect you and your family. there are two types of uninsured motoristinsurance, stacked and non-stacked. the best one for you to buy is"stacked" uninsured motorist insurance and i will explain why in a minute. but first, let me explain how um insurance works. it will pay for your damages if you getin a crash with an at fault driver who does not have any bodily injury insurance,which is called an uninsured motorist. or it will pay when the at fault driver doesnot have enough bodily injury insurance,
which is called anunderinsured motorist. and just so you know, in florida, motorists arenot required to carry bodily injury insurance. about half the cars on the road don't carry it. this is why um insurance is so important. if you get in a wreck with someone whodoes not carry bodily injury insurance and you don't have uninsured motorist insurance, you will likely be out of luck because there willnot be any insurance to pay for your losses. now let me explain the differencebetween stacked um and non-stacked um. when you own more than one car, andyou purchase stacked um insurance,
you get to add or "stack" the um policies. for example, let’s say you own two cars, and have coverageof one hundred thousand dollars per car, and if you are in a wreck, then you can stack the two coverage's andreceive up to two hundred thousand dollars. one hundred for the first car andone hundred for the second car. often times, people will askme, since i only own one car, so why should i buy stacked um since i don't haveanother car to stack the coverage on top of? and the answer to this question is the most importantreason of why you want stacked um coverage.
stacked um should also becalled follow um coverage. because the coverage followsyou wherever you go. if you have stacked um and you are drivingsomeone else's car and get in a wreck, your um follows you and you are protected. if you are a passenger in someoneelse’s car, you are covered. if you are a pedestrian, orriding a bike and a car hits you, you are still covered since yourstacked um coverage follows you. so stacked means itfollows you everywhere. my friend says stacked um will protect you even ifyou are in a submarine and you get hit by a car.
so now you know whystacked is so important. now if you only carry non-stacked um, then you can only recoverbenefits from your policy if you are in a wreck whilein your insured vehicle. it does not followyou like stacked um. and the other benefit of stacked uminsurance, as i mentioned earlier, is that whatever the um policylimits are for each of your cars, the limits are added together orstacked on top of each other. this is where the termstacked comes from.
so five cars, with one hundredthousand dollars of um on each car, will provide you and your family with fivehundred thousand dollars worth of coverage. and another important fact youneed to know about um insurance, whether it is stacked or not, is thatif you are in another vehicle you own and it does nothave um insurance, you are not protected even though you haveum on all your other vehicles. you will not be covered if you are in theone car that does not have um coverage. now, some people say, if i have health and disabilityinsurance why would i need um too?
and the answer to this is simple. let me explain by using an example. let’s say you are in a car crashand the windshield breaks, and you lose vision in both of your eyesfrom the glass hitting you in the face. your medical bills will bepaid by your health insurance. and your disabilityinsurance will pay you only two thirds of your lostwages until retirement age. but you won't get a single penny for thenon-economic damages you will suffer, such as the loss of your ability to enjoy life.
you will not recover one cent to helpyou cope with the loss of your vision and the added expenses andfrustrations of being blind. so um covers some of the non-economiclosses you would suffer. it is important to be aware that most auto insurancecompanies don't like to sell um insurance. but the state of florida requiresthem to make you sign a form rejecting it if you don't want to buy it. the insurance agents usuallydon't explain the um very well, and may say to you we willgive you full coverage. but what they really mean by this,is that they are selling you
the minimum insurancerequired by florida law. let me tell you this. i am a board certified civil trial lawyer. and you need to know that fullcoverage is not a legal term. there is no exact definitionfor full coverage. this is just a saying thatan insurance agent will use so they don't have to explain in detail what youdo or don’t have as far as insurance coverage. so don’t be fooled bythe term full coverage. make sure you get stacked um coverageto protect you and your family.
when you ask your insurance agentabout purchasing um insurance, you will be told that you can only buy as muchum as you carry in bodily injury coverage. that is a correct statement. another important fact to keep in mind, is that insurance policies differ, so you must read yours to find outexactly what is and is not covered. if you have more questions about thisinformation, i suggest three things: one, speak to your insurance agent and make sure he or she is ableto answer all of your questions.
two, read your policy, and three, call my office ifyou still have questions. thank you for watching this video. i hope you have found ithelpful in understanding what uninsured motoristinsurance is and how it works.