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Insurance: options when hit by uninsured motorist

159 messages,  Last post on May 05, 2013 at 2:22 PM

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#110 of 159 Re: I see your point [jlawrence01] by gogiboy

Jan 04, 2007 (11:31 am)

Replying to: jlawrence01 (Jan 03, 2007 4:03 pm)
Thanks jl and cc for your responses. I'm going to talk to my agent. The umbrella certainly sounds like it is well worth the extra piece of mind that it will provide.
 
Gogiboy

#111 of 159 gogiboy by marsha7

Jan 04, 2007 (12:08 pm)

My thinking is like this: depending on your auto insurance company, first have their maximum BASE policy...some have 100/300, some have 250/500 or some variation thereof...
 
Then, with that company, find out what their premium is for their version of a 1 million and a 2 million umbrella policy, as it will pick up exactly where the max base policy stops...
 
To insure two 2004 vehicles, I pay $1200 per year total, that's for 100/300 liability, 250 deductibles for comp and collision, 100K in medpay, 100K in UM, plus towing, rental car insurance...another $150 is added to bring the LIABILITY up to 1 million, and another $150 brings the UM up to 1 million, so my umbrella policies cost me an extra $300 yearly...
 
Yours might be a little cheaper, since my company sells liability and UM umbrellas separately, some may cover them both with one umbrella policy...
 
So, if I damage you, I am covered up to 1 million...if you damage me, and either have no insurance or only 50K liability but I have $250K in meds, my UM one million umbrella will compensate me for your failure to insure enough...
 
I guess I ought to follow my own advice and find out how much a 2 or 3 million umbrella would cost...who knows, it may be priced like medpay...only $1000 in medpay costs about $35 yearly, but $50-100,000 coverage only adds about $35 more, as the cost/per/thousand in coverage drops dramatically...
 
Also, your thought of middle class is meaningless to me, altho some might argue that it is the middle class (that includes me, too) that the middle class always takes it on the chin...I feel that high limits should be carried by everyone, since you can be seriously injured or killed in a 1972 Chevy Nova (car worth only $100, so drop comp and collision but keep all the other stuff as injuries occur independently of the vehicle or its value) or a 2007 Lexus LS 460...that is why I look at folks with a dumb look when they tell me they were injured in a wreck, they were in a 72 Nova, they had no ins but basic liability, and the other idiot was uninsured...when I ask why they dropped the stuff other than comp and collision, they ALWAYS respond, "But it's an old car"...to which I respond, "And does that prevent you from being injured when you hit someone or someone hits you???"..."Gee, I never thought of that"
 
Maybe Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, both billionaires, can go without the insurance because they can literally insure themselves against any million $$$ payout, but you and I cannot do that...
 
And if you never have a wreck, I will NEVER consider it money wasted on premiums...did you waste $$$ insuring your house against fire, even tho it never burned in the 40 years you lived there???
 
Insurance is a bet against risk...we risk a serious accident every time we drive, and everytime we rubberneck we think "that could have been me"...well, it could be, and someday it might be...I would rather be insured against the risk as opposed to going bare (and illegal) and know that I have also done the right MORAL thing (yeah, yeah, morals from a lawyer, that's like kindness from Saddam) so that I am covering me for my injuries (if they cause them) and them for their injuries (if I cause them)...
 
Anything less makes no sense...and if you can't afford it, just remember...if you are uninsured and get seriously injured by someone uninsured, you will get nothing and live on food stamps...then you will think back and realize just how important it is to have more than "the legal minimum" for auto insurance...
 
Small rant coming to an end...

#112 of 159 Re: gogiboy [marsha7] by gogiboy

Jan 06, 2007 (12:25 pm)

Replying to: marsha7 (Jan 04, 2007 12:08 pm)
"Yours might be a little cheaper, since my company sells liability and UM umbrellas separately, some may cover them both with one umbrella policy...
  
So, if I damage you, I am covered up to 1 million...if you damage me, and either have no insurance or only 50K liability but I have $250K in meds, my UM one million umbrella will compensate me for your failure to insure enough..."
 
Are any of the umbrella policies useful for upping the coverage on one's house as well?
 
"And if you never have a wreck, I will NEVER consider it money wasted on premiums...did you waste $$$ insuring your house against fire, even tho it never burned in the 40 years you lived there???"
 
Like you I never consider it wasted money, just the price of living in a society where not everyone can, or is willing to, carry their weight. I said middle class only to reflect my assets that need protecting aren't "high value", but I want to protect them nonetheless. I would guess that the rich and super-rich carry plenty of insurance to protect themselves (despite being able to pay damages out of pocket) from nuisance lawsuits. Of course, folks like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet probably each have their own law firm on retainer particularly with the amount of charitable giving that both are involved with.
 
Thanks for the info. I'm printing off your response to use when talking to my agent.
 
Gogiboy

#113 of 159 Re: gogiboy [gogiboy] by jlawrence01

Jan 07, 2007 (12:06 am)

Replying to: gogiboy (Jan 06, 2007 12:25 pm)
**Are any of the umbrella policies useful for upping the coverage on one's house as well? **
 
The umbrella policy covers BOTH your house AND your vehicle. If you have $100k liability on your house and a $1M umbrella policy and you have a claim against you for $300k, the umbrella will cover all damage over the $100k.
 
Part of Warren Buffet's fortune was made at what in known in the business as REINSURANCE. Let's say that you have a building like the World Trade Center. No single insurer would take the risk of having so much exposure in one building. Therefore, one company will underwrite the risk and tehn purchase reinsurance from several other carriers.

#114 of 159 an uninsured motorist hit me and has hired a personal injury lawyer by calicar

Jan 07, 2007 (2:02 pm)

Hi,
 
I was rearended in LA in december by an uninsured motorist. Her policy had expired the month before. I am insured with AAA in california. Now she has hired a personal injury lawyer. I have pictures from the accident and a witness but no police report since 3 cops said it was an open and shut case in their opinion. My car is getting worked on and I have good coverage but I'm worried that she is trying to sue me? Any suggestions? Please help.

#115 of 159 Re: an uninsured motorist hit me and has hired a personal injury lawyer [calicar] by cccompson

Jan 07, 2007 (4:11 pm)

Replying to: calicar (Jan 07, 2007 2:02 pm)
Just notify your insurance company when you are served with the court filing. They will defend you and likely seek to collect for both your damages and her frivilous litigation.
 

#116 of 159 gogiboy by marsha7

Jan 08, 2007 (3:30 pm)

Sorry for leaving that out...when you buy the umbrella policy, esp for the liability portion of your auto policy, it also covers your home, assuming that your home and car are insured with the same carrier, as most, but not all do...I am also assuming that when folks buy those cheapie "bare minimum" policies, they are not insuring their home with the same policy, altho I do not really know...
 
But, yes, the same policy that raises my auto to 1 mil also raises my homeowners to 1 mil...since we were on autos, I did not think to add that, but I should have done so...
 
It isn't that Buffet and Gates have their own law firms, it is that they have enough $$$ that a million dollar judgment against them would be paid out of petty cash...the reason you and I have insurance is because we cannot absorb a judgment like that, so we pay premiums to a collective entity who can...after all, Gates with 54 billion in wealth could probably buy many small insurance companies and pay their claims out of petty cash...
 
Calicar: if the uninsured party eas at fault, for them to hire a lawyer, and for the lawyer to take the case, is insane...it is possible, however, that the atty has not seen the police report, and sometimes we tentatively take a client based on THEIR description of the wreck, waiting to see the accident report...then, the report comes in and contradicts their entire story, and we throw the case away realizing they have lied to us...some folks are so stupid that they think we will not read the accident report...
 
Also, you have those folks, really nice folks, who post on these topics, complaining that they did not call the police because the other guy said he would pay the damage himself...everybody leaves the scene, and now there is no proof of who hit who, and the innocent party posts here asking what to do, and the only answer is to suck up and pay your own claim, as I always advise to never trust the other party to do what is right, simply because they won't...so, that case comes into me saying that someone drove into them and did not yield the right of way...if no report to verify, I will not take the case, but some attys will take anything...
 
BTW, I really did have a case where my client was sitting at a red light on a hill, and the truck in front of him slipped backwards and "front-ended" him, whereas anyone would have thought that my client rear-ended the truck...
 
Two eyewitnesses stopped and told police that the trucker backed into my client, otherwise who would believe anything but a rear-ender???...

#117 of 159 Re: Insurance: options when hit by uninsured motorist [mukluk] by thingyamabob

Jul 18, 2007 (12:35 pm)

Replying to: mukluk (Nov 26, 2004 1:32 am)
This is a very good article on what to do when you are hit by an uninsured driver.
 
What Happens If You Get Hit By An Uninsured Driver?

#118 of 159 help by kim23

Aug 23, 2007 (12:38 pm)

I was driving a friends car, accidently totaled it, i got the ticket because of failing to make sure the coast was clear before proceeding through a stop sign. My friend bought a new car about 2 days after the wreck and I paid her back the money she paid for the car (she paid $500), the car i wrecked was probably worth about $800. She insists that i owe her more money. Do I? I don't know what to do. btw..she and i are no longer friends. She hinted that she is going to sue me. what can she get?

#119 of 159 If the car you wrecked by marsha7

Aug 23, 2007 (2:41 pm)

was worth $800, and you paid her $500, I think you owe her $300...just because she replaced it with a cheaper car doesn't mean you don't owe her the value of what she had...
 
If her Mother gave her a car for free, would you think you didn't have to pay for the one you wrecked, since it didn't cost her for her Mother's "gift?"
 
Either this is too simple, or I have missed something terribly relevant while being overserved at dinner..

Messages Page 12 of 16

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