The phrase “full coverage” is a misleading insurance industry marketing
term to convince drivers that they are buying all the insurance coverage protection
they need - at a great price. The phrase is a marketing ploy to sell
insurance. “Full coverage” actually means that you may be purchasing the bare minimum of coverage required to
legally register a car in Florida.
1.
$10,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP). PIP or “no fault’ insurance
is essentially medical insurance for car and truck crash injuries. It pays 80% of
your medical bills and 60% of your lost wages if you are injured in a car
accident. No-fault insurance also covers family members who do not have their
own policy and will protect family members who suffer personal injuries while
riding in another person’s car. It will also cover you if you are injured as a
pedestrian or cyclist hit by another vehicle. Because Florida is a “no fault”
state, the insurance company pays for your bills up to $10,000 regardless of
who caused the crash. If the other driver is injured, his other insurance
company is responsible for their bills – whether they caused the crash or not.
2.
$10,000 in Property Damage Liability (PDL). PDL coverage does not pay for damage to your car. Instead, with
PDL coverage, your insurance company will pay up to the amount of the coverage
purchased to repair another person’s vehicle and for property damage caused by
your car including damage to trees, buildings, road signs, and mailboxes. If
the accident resulted in a “total loss,” meaning it would cost more to repair
the vehicle than to replace it, PDL will cover a portion of the replacement
cost.
“Full Coverage” Does Not Include
the Following Valuable Insurance Protections:
Bodily Injury Liability
Coverage (BIL): Provides protection to your personal financial assets against
claims for monetary damages in the event you cause a car crash resulting in
personal injury, death, medical expenses and income loss to someone else due to
a car crash that you cause.
Uninsured and Underinsured
Motorist Coverage (UM): UM coverage is invaluable! This is the coverage designed to protect you from another
driver’s negligence when you are injured. It provides coverage to compensate
you and your family in the event you suffer personal injury, death, medical
expenses, or loss of income due to a car crash caused by another driver. UM coverage also pays off even if another
driver has no car insurance, or if he or she has a policy with no bodily injury
liability coverage or insufficient bodily injury liability coverage to
compensate you for your losses. Personal Injury Protection coverage does not
pay for any medical bills once the $10,000 benefit has been exhausted and
provides nothing for pain and suffering, physical impairment or loss of life.
Collision Coverage: Pays to repair damage to
or replace your car or truck if you
are in a crash with another vehicle regardless of who is at fault.
Comprehensive Coverage: Covers non-crash related
vehicle damage caused by falling tree limbs, fire, flood, vandalism or an
animal.
Medical Payments Coverage:
This is
additional insurance coverage to pay your medical expenses over and above the
$10,000 in PIP benefits. The cost of medical care is prohibitively high. One
emergency room visit can cost thousands of dollars and once Personal Injury
Protection benefits are exhausted, your auto coverage stops paying your medical
bills. The addition of Medical Payments Coverage can be invaluable and, like
PIP, pays regardless of who causes the crash.
Most people don’t think about the day to day consequences of
being seriously injured in a car crash. To
really make sure that you receive compensation for pain, impairment, disability
and suffering, the best possible course is to purchase uninsured/underinsured
motorist coverage or UM. If you don’t have it, consider getting it. To protect
your assets, savings and property, consider adding coverage for collision and
bodily injury. Florida’s bare minimum “full coverage” insurance is not enough.
I want to help you protect yourself. If you want to more fully
understand available insurance coverage to protect you in the event of an
accident, call me at (904) 355-3109. I’m more than happy to discuss insurance
with you, or provide a free review of your current policy
You may also visit my website at
You'd better read the fine print in your auto policy if you don't want to wind up finding out where the coverage stops and your bank account takes a hit.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that. I am glad I read this about what's included or not - in "Full Coverage".
ReplyDelete