The Importance of Stackable Uninsured/Underinsured Insurance Coverage

We have written before about the importance of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. This past week we resolved a case for a client that is a classic demonstration of why it is so very important that uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage be purchased at the time one acquires liability insurance coverage for their own vehicle.
In the case we mentioned, a young lady was hit by a driver who was clearly negligent. Unfortunately, the driver of the vehicle that injured our client had only the minimum limits of liability insurance, that being $25,000.00 in bodily injury coverage. The driver also was unemployed and lived in a trailer and had no assets to satisfy a judgment over and above the available liability insurance coverage. Our client’s injuries were far in excess of available coverage and, indeed, her medical bills were three times the amount of available liability insurance.
Fortunately for our client, she was driving her parents’ vehicle which had $100,000.00 underinsured motorist coverage. She also had $50,000.00 in underinsured motorist coverage for her own vehicle. Because both policies were stackable, there was total available coverage of $175,000.00. Even with this available coverage, the client was still underinsured because her overall damages (medical bills, lost wages, permanent disability and pain and suffering, past and future) were greater than the available coverage. However, the point to be made is that if she had not had the benefit of underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage, she would have been limited in her recovery to $25,000.00, which would have compounded her personal tragedy.
Stackable uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is an option for all Georgia drivers. When one acquires insurance coverage for their vehicle, they should discuss with their insurance agent how much uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage will cost and should also discuss purchasing stackable insurance, which means it will stack on top of whatever coverage an at fault driver has. As indicated, in many cases, such coverage can be extremely important in helping to secure adequate compensation for an accident that is in no way the fault of the innocent victim.