I spoke to a nice lady earlier this week who was the victim of a drunk driver and has suffered some pretty significant orthopedic injuries.  Already her medical bills exceed $50,000.00.  The defendant has minimal insurance and the potential client has underinsured motorist coverage to only $50,000.00.  Of course the employer’s health benefit plan wants to get all of its money back. 

The overwhelming likelihood is that his lady will recover nothing for her injuries.  Of course this is “not fair” but it is entirely preventable.  She had a choice and could have bought uninsured motorist coverage up to $1,000,000.00.  This type of coverage is cheap and in fact it’s one of the best deals on the market.  For probably another $100.00 to $200.00 a year in insurance premiums she would have been fully protected against this dirt bag who hit her.  Instead her health benefit plan will be repaid, she will continue to suffer and she will likely see little or nothing out of this case for her pain and suffering and any out-of-pocket expenses she incurs. 

Life is a series of choices.

Too many folks that we meet with are underinsured. I know that if your car insurance agent tells you to buy more you might not believe her.

Unfortunately, its perfectly legal to drive a car in Virginia that is not insured (remember, you can pay a $500 fee to the DMV and tell them your car is not insured…it’s OK…not recomended, but OK.)

That means that you might get hit by someone is is uninsured and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Or can you?

 You can and should buy plenty of uninsured motorist coverage. It’s dirt cheap (though the insurance agents I’ve talked to don’t do a good job of explaining it to you).

I’ve written a book about How To Buy Car Insurance in Virgina and the Virginia Department of Insurance has an excellent free download as well.