What is Stackable Uninsured/Underinsured Insurance Coverage

When one purchases an automobile insurance policy from their insurance agent, the real reason that the policy is being purchased is to comply with Georgia law, which requires that all automobile drivers have minimum limits of liability insurance in the amount of $25,000.00 per person, $50,000.00 per accident. What this means is that if a driver is to drive lawfully under our laws, one must be financially responsible. If one runs a stop sign and injures another individual and breaks their leg, as an example, all drivers must have at least $25,000.00 in coverage which will provide some minimum coverage for the innocent victim of an automobile accident.
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is optional coverage which can be purchased as a part of any liability insurance policy. It must be offered but it is not required to be purchased. However, all Georgia motorists should carefully examine such coverage because it can be extremely important in certain cases. The less insurance an at fault driver has and the greater the damage done by an accident, the greater the need for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
In the hypothetical case where an at fault driver runs a stop sign and seriously injures an innocent third party who did nothing wrong, if the at fault driver has the minimum limits of Georgia law, that being $25,000.00, imagine how little compensation will be available if the innocent victim breaks their neck, loses a leg, loses an eye or otherwise has a very serious injury. In such a situation there will be no compensation for the innocent victim if the at fault driver not only has limited coverage but is judgment proof due to a lack of personal assets. In the hypothetical case posed, the only possibility of obtaining adequate compensation for the damages suffered by the innocent victim is the availability of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
If one purchases stackable insurance coverage, the coverage will stack on top of whatever liability coverage is available. In our hypothetical, if the at fault driver only had $25,000.00 in liability coverage and the injured individual was prudent enough to purchase as part of their own coverage uninsured/underinsured coverage in the amount of $100,000.00, then this coverage would stack on top of the $25,000.00 for a total of $125,000.00 in available coverage. While such compensation might not be sufficient to adequately compensate someone with a broken back or neck or amputated limb, nonetheless, it is far greater compensation for the innocent victim than would be available in the absence of uninsured/underinsured insurance coverage.