The One Conversation I Hate To Have With My Client
I’m sitting in front of my client. She is one of the nicest people I have spoken to. She is courteous, kind, empathetic and a good listener. She is bleeding from her lip. It has stitches in it. I think to myself that it is going to scar. She hurts all over.
I tell her the bad news quickly. The person who hit her and who was 100% in the wrong did not carry BI (bodily injury coverage) on their automobile insurance policy. They bought the very minimum that Florida requires for a person to be able to drive down the road: PIP (Personal Injury Protection) and PD (Property Damage). Like many clients who have never been in a car accident before, she does not understand and asks “who is going to pay for my medical bills?” “In Florida,” I respond, “you are.” In Florida, your own PIP will pay for 80% of accident-related medical bills/expenses up to $10,000.00. Florida is a “No Fault” state. But that doesn’t mean that someone is not at fault for causing the accident. In my client’s case, the other driver is.
Because the at-fault party did not carry BI on their policy, the client will not be getting an insurance settlement from them for causing her injuries and pain and suffering.
I know my client doesn’t have a fighting chance when I look at her policy and see that she doesn’t have BI on her policy either. If she had bought BI, then and only then would she have had the opportunity to buy UM (Uninsured Motorist Coverage) which is not as expensive as some of the other coverages an agent may push on you that you don’t need. That would have been my client’s last chance to get an insurance settlement in this case: UM. It was in her control but she may never have even known that the opportunity to buy it existed.
UM is so important that the insurance company has to include a signature line for you to sign to reject it!
We try to save money on the premiums, and some agents will try and convince you not to buy UM by telling you that you already have PIP, and sometimes we purchase insurance on line without the use of an agent and it’s easy to read right past the option of UM completely.
Remember that these coverages are two different things: one is mandatory and pays accident-related medical bills and expenses and the other puts money in your pocket when you are hurt and the person responsible for hurting you doesn’t carry BI. They don’t sell you UM but still tell you that you have “full coverage.” Full coverage is a misleading term and does not mean that YOU are “fully covered.”
It’s disgusting. My client deserved compensation for this accident.
And I have to tell her that in this case she is not getting money for her injuries. When it comes to being fully covered for your body, at the minimum you need to have 10 BI (Bodily Injury 10/20) and 10 UM (Uninsured Motorist Coverage 10/20). That’s when you are fully protected. Then if the at fault party has no BI, you will have UM and you can rest assured that you thought ahead to protect yourself and your family.
You have it covered. Fully.