The Law Firm Of Guttmann & Kellner, P.C.
25 West Main Street
Smithtown, New York 11787
Phone: 631-360-2175
Fax: (631) 360-3393
24 Hour Number: (718) 830-7121
E-Mail us at ExperiencedLaw.com
"When experience counts"
What is Underinsurance and why is it so
important to protect me and my family?
Question: Suppose you are severely injured in a car accident where the other driver had only minimal liability coverage? Although you are able to collect the other driver's minimum liability policy limits, who will pay your expenses which far exceed this minimal policy? Is there a way to protect yourself from having an accident with someone who has too little insurance coverage?
Answer: Yes. It is called Underinsurance, or also known as SUM - Supplemental Uninsured Motorist coverage. Under New York State law, as of January 1996 the minimum liability coverage an individual was required to maintain was increased from $10,000 to $25,000. Even so, this minimum liability coverage required of all NYS drivers is far too low to cover the potential injuries of anyone seriously hurt in an automobile accident.
The concept of Underinsurance was developed to balance out the insurance industry's constant attempts to keep the minimum liability coverage as low as possible, presently at $25,000. That amount can hardly protect anyone from a serious injury, so something needed to be done to allow the public to protect themselves by taking out their own coverage in the form of underinsurance.
Underinsurance an extra policy that every responsible automobile driver should make sure he or she is covered under. It allows you to turn to your own insurance company and pay the difference in the deiciency of having an accident with a driver covered by a minimal $25,000 policy, and the true value of your injuries. This underinsured policy can also be applied to yourself, resident family members, and any passengers in the vehicle who are injured where the adverse vehicle has only a minimal policy covereage.
Normally, when you take out automobile insurance, you are covered by what is referred to as "bodily injury coverage". This amount of insurance is what your insurance company will pay out if another party is injured as a result of your negligence. With underinsurance coverage, you have the extra added protection of covering yourself if you are injured.
Few people ever take out the underinsurance premium option despite the fact that it costs pennies per day. Notwithstanding, the benefits far exceed the extremely low premiums it costs to have underinsurance. As a result, most insurance companies and brokers never recomend or advise the public of this underinsured option because there is little profit for them to make selling the underinsurance premium. As a result, most of the public has never even heard of the underinsured coverage. If you want to discover if you have the underinsured coverage, look at your "dec" (declaration) sheet and see if you have what is referred to as Supplemental Uninsured Motorist coverage in excess of $25,000. If this is so, then you have underinsurance. If not, you should contact your insurance company or broker immediately to obtain this valuable coverage for you and your family.
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