Uninsured Motorist Car Insurance Explained by Lawyer Matt Powell UM/UIM

What is UM Insurance
How Much Uninsured Motorist Insurance Should I have

This video explains how and why Uninsured Motorist Insurance is the best insurance you can buy to protect you and your family.
Stacked Uninsured Motorist Insurance is the best type of UM insurance to protect you and your family.

Here is how Uninsured Motorist insurance works. It will pay for your damages if you get in an accident with an at fault driver who does not have ANY Bodily Injury Insurance, which is called an Uninsured Motorist. Or it will pay when the at fault driver does not have ENOUGH Bodily Injury Insurance to cover your losses, which is called an Underinsured Motorist.
In Florida, motorists are not required to carry Bodily Injury Insurance. About half the cars on the road don't carry Bodily Injury Insurance. This is why UM insurance is so important to have. If you get in a wreck with someone who does not carry enough Bodily Injury Insurance and you don't have Uninsured Motorist insurance, you will likely be out of luck when it comes time to recover for your injuries because there will be no or not enough insurance to pay you for all of your losses.

The difference between Stacked UM and Non-Stacked Uninsured Motorist Insurance is that when you own more than one car, and you can purchase Stacked UM insurance and you get to add or "Stack" the Uninsured Motorist insurance policies. For example, if you own two cars, and have coverage of one hundred thousand dollars per car, and you are in a wreck, then you can stack the two coverages and receive up to two hundred thousand dollars.
People ask me why they want Stacked Uninsured Motorist insurance when they only own one car? The answer to this question is the Most Important reason why you want Stacked Uninsured Motorist Insurance coverage.
Stacked Uninsured Motorist should be called "Follow" UM coverage. Because when you have Stacked UM insurance, even on just one car, the coverage follows you wherever you go. For example, if you have Stacked Uninsured Motorist Insurance and you are Driving someone else's car and get in a wreck, your UM follows you and you are protected. It follows you when you are a passenger in someone else's car too. If you are a pedestrian, or riding a Bike and a car hits you, you are still covered since your Stacked Uninsured Motorist coverage follows you. So Stacked means it follows you everywhere. My friend says stacked uninsured motorist insurance will protect you if you are in a submarine and a car hits you. Just joking, but true.
Now if you only carry Non-Stacked UM, then you can only recover benefits from your policy if you are in a wreck while in Your insured vehicle. It does not "follow" you like Stacked.

And the other benefit of Stacked UM insurance, is that whatever the UM policy limits are for each of your cars, the limits are added together, or "Stacked" on top of each other. This is where the term Stacked comes from. So, five cars, with one hundred thousand dollars of Uninsured Motorist Insurance on each car, will provide you and your family with five hundred thousand dollars worth of coverage.
Some people say, "well, I have disability insurance, and I have health insurance, so why would I want Uninsured Motorist Insurance too? " The answer to that is simple.
Let me give you an example. Let's say you are injured in a car crash the windshield breaks and the glass fragments cause you to lose vision in both eyes.
Well, your medical bills will be paid by your health insurance (if you have it). And your disability insurance will pay you two thirds of your lost wages until retirement (if you have disability insurance). But you won't get a single Penny for the non-economic damages you suffered, such as the loss of your ability to enjoy life. You would not recover one cent to help you cope with the loss of your vision. You would recover nothing for the added expenses of being blind, being unable to drive a car, all the losses of being blind.
And it is important to be aware that most auto insurance companies don't like to sell Uninsured Motorist insurance. The insurance agents usually don't explain the Uninsured Motorists Insurance very well, and may say to you "we will give you Full Coverage"" . But what they really mean by this, is that they are selling you the Minimum Insurance required by Florida Law.
So don't be fooled by the term "full coverage". Make sure you get Stacked Uninsured Motorist insurance coverage to protect you and your family.
When you ask your insurance agent about purchasing UM insurance, you will be told that you can only buy as much Uninsured Motorist insurance as you carry in Bodily Injury Coverage. That is correct statement.
Another important fact, insurance policies differ, so you must read yours to find out exactly what is and is not covered.

[cheezyneSSful]

Thank you so much for this video! I was going to buy stacked UM insurance and my Geico agent told me that I don't need it and it is not a part of full coverage. The form you mentioned is actually what made me try to research it a little more. I appreciate your help!

[AronfeldTrialLawyers]

Wow. I am very impressed by your video series. Excellent work.

[ashleyd]

Great info and much needed. I'm a chiropractor and I myself had a hard time understanding it. I knew I needed it but I didn't know the specifics.

[Ro]

Thank you. I never understood UM insurance before this wonderful video. Thank you.

[SjSouthBay]

Thank you for explaining this concept. It was so easy to understand and follow along. As an personal lines agent, I definitely agree with you when you mention that customers should double check their policies and maybe even do their research before signing off a decline of coverage. There is really no such thing as “full coverage” . Again thank you so much for sharing.

[Cypresshtcom]

I think you just saved my business, Matt. My insurance company has given me the wrong policy 8 times over the past 3 months. They call me about every 2 weeks to apologize because they made another mistake and have to change my coverage to a different plan. As of now, I am so concerned that my business doesn't have the correct vehicle coverage and was pushed into signing a non-stacked insurance policy. When I asked what this was they told me it was just an extra cost that I didn't need. I have been served with the most unknowledgeable people ever and I'm at odds with what to do.

[TheMattHorton]

Thank you for an excellent video on this subject.  Well done.

[Skydiva]

Thank you for exploring this. Knowledge is power!

[julianuk]

Thanks Mattlaw for the great informative video. Every Floridan should watch this video.

[robw]

matt, excellent job articulating the differences between Stacked and non-stacked insurance!

[chincha]

Excellent! Great explanation and now i feel confident in what i'm buying. Thanks!

[sebamiami]

Thanks for the valuable information. Very well explained.

[Kuj]

Thank you, very useful information. clear & concise

[jonathanw]

excellent explanation.  you make it very easy to understand.

[davidthompson]

I’m sorry, but some of the information here is inaccurate. True, “UM”
coverage is a very important and everyone should buy the maximum limits
available. Additionally, “stacked” UM is always the best coverage, even on a
single car policy. I commend you for expressing how important this coverage is.
Hopefully your video will encourage more people to buy maximum UM limits and
stack it. Remember, the Insurance Information Institute estimates that 23% of
the cars in Florida have no insurance at all. Hard data from the Florida
Department of Financial Services about two years ago showed that right at 50%
of the autos with any insurance have $25, 000 of bodily injury liability or
less. 

The video states that non-stacked UM only covers you if you are in your
car. That is incorrect. Non-stacked protects you if you drive another car (not
owned by you or a resident family member), if you are a passenger in the same
vehicle, and if you are a pedestrian.

Additionally, while other parts of the auto policy have an exclusion
for vehicles with less than four wheels, the UM part does not. 

If you own a vehicle and it is not insured for UM under that policy,
then non-stacked UM will not respond; stacked will respond. 

One particular insurance company writes a separate vehicle on each
vehicle. It’s very common that the customer elects to buy stacked UM on one vehicle,
and reject it on the other vehicles. (It’s a bad decision, but it happens a
lot.) If the customer were occupying a vehicle that was covered by a policy
with no UM, the stacked UM from the other vehicle WILL respond. 

I’ve been an insurance agent for over 30 years in Florida and teach
classes about UM dozens of times per year; even to the Florida Department of
Financial Services (Formerly the Florida Department of Insurance) on several
occasions.
David Thompson, CPCU, AAI, API, CRISPS: I do not sell insurance so I have no agenda here other than to educate consumers.

[agapen]

I watched this video six months ago and chose stacked on my Florida Geico plan for 1 vehicle. When renewing my policy a few days ago, I decided to call Geico to determine if stacked for them meant what is said in this video. The associate spoke to a supervisor and said that it did not and that stacked is good for multiple vehicles but not for 1 vehicle. He said that Personal Injury Protection will be what pays damages if harmed as a pedestrian. I appreciate these videos but I think the policy holder of 1 vehicle should contact his/her insurance company before selecting the stacked option. I saved myself approximately $50 by selecting non-stacked this time around.

[JenniferCarr]

How do I know if i have stacked coverage? Mine is listed as "Uninsured Motorist - Added On" state of Georgia.

[johnboyle]

i had no idea it was that bad in Florida!...went ahead and increased my BI and UM from 100K/300K/100K unstacked to 250K/500K/100K stacked and added a 1M umbrella for BOTH (cost for the umbrella came in at about 470 dollars per YEAR)..peace of mind for a little chunk of money!

[jessicacombs]

Music is a bit dramatic but thank you for this information! I really needed it.

[t-bone]

Great info. Thanks Matt. I've lived in FL for 26 years now and have had 2 cars totaled by at fault drivers who not only had no insurance but were - surprise - broke! My advice of course was to move on since I couldn't get blood from a turnip. What is the legal consequence for these drivers? I've never had anyone who knew what happens to these drivers who just drive away from the scene after causing pain and property damage.. Thanks