Attorney Tim Ferguson – How important is Uninsured Underinsured Insurance

Ferguson Law Firm Attorney Tim Ferguson explains the importance of a trial attorney.

Something I hear often from my clients that is frustrating is, "I'm not going to report this to my insurance because I'm scared my rates are going to go up." First of all, that's not true — at least, that's what the evidence shows. We've had Senate and House hearings in Austin where insurance companies literally had to admit that it is not true. So we know that's not true.

What's also unfortunate is that my clients are often not fully apprised or knowledgeable about uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage. What does that mean? Well, people get confused by "full coverage." Full coverage does not mean uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is included — it just means your bodily injury and your property damage claims are covered. Frankly, the reason insurance companies use that term is so that you don't select underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage.

Here's what it is: if somebody who is uninsured injures you in a motor vehicle, you can make a claim on your own insurance for the damages you sustained. Think about how important that is. If you're driving down the highway and somebody T-bones you at an intersection, and they don't have insurance, and you get ambulanced to the hospital with a broken bone and medical expenses through the roof — which we know can happen — that's on you, because the driver who hit you doesn't have insurance. Unless you have uninsured motorist coverage. So I tell every single one of my clients who doesn't have it: you've got to promise me one thing — that coverage is called UM/UIM coverage, and you've got to get it. Because the minute you think it's not going to happen to you, it's going to happen to you.

Underinsured — UIM — is a little bit different. It's the same context: you're driving down the highway and get T-boned, and the person has what's called minimum limits, which in Texas is thirty thousand dollars. Well, as we all know, medical bills exceed thirty thousand dollars, especially if you have a broken bone. In that case, you can make a claim on your underinsured coverage, because the minimum limits of $30,000 are not enough insurance to cover your medical expenses, your pain, your lost wages, and so on.

So what I would say to anybody is this: if you have a motor vehicle that you operate and you have insurance on it, make sure you have UM (uninsured) and UIM (underinsured) motorist coverage. You just never know when something catastrophic is going to happen to you, caused by somebody who either doesn't have adequate insurance or has no insurance at all.