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Should you carry more car insurance than required in Florida?

Posted on Dec 18, 2010

Most states have laws stating the minimum amount of car insurance coverage required in order to drive a motor vehicle. In Florida, the limits are set at $10,000 for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and $10,000 for Property Damage Liability (PDL).

Are these amounts enough? The answer is a resounding NO, and there are many reasons for that:

1. Low coverage insurance policies only look cheaper. In the event of a crash, you may end up having to pay most of your own medical expenses, your own property damage, and you could be facing enormous liability claims from the other party if you were at fault;
2. PIP protects you regardless of whether you are at fault or not, as well as your family members and those passengers who lack PIP. If your health care plan covers all your medical expenses if you caused a road accident, you may not need additional PIP, but if it doesn’t or if you don’t have health insurance, $10,000 will not carry you very far and you should consider increasing the amount.
3. PDL covers the damage to the other party’s vehicle and property if you caused the accident. Here again, the minimum amount may only cover a small part of the amount you are liable for and doesn’t cover any of the costs of repairing your own vehicle.
4. Even experienced and careful drivers make mistakes. Rear-ending a car on a wet or frozen roadway can be enough to make you the responsible party. If you caused injury or death to others, you could be facing financial ruin without Bodily Injury Liability insurance, which will cover the injury-related compensation owed to the other party, including legal representation if you get sued.

If you or a loved one has been involved and hurt in a car or motorcycle crash caused by a reckless, negligent, distracted or drunken driver, call immediately the Ormond Beach auto accident attorneys of Johnson & Gilbert for a FREE discussion of your case.

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