Consider a check-up of your uninsured motorist bodily injury (UMBI) coverage. This is important for everyone but ESPECIALLY for young families.
UMBI coverage is used to protect you and any passengers in your car that are injured in an automobile accident where the at-fault driver has NO INSURANCE.
Why is this important? First, over 30% of the vehicles on the roads in Los Angeles County are NOT INSURED!
Whenever I discuss reasons for insurance, the stories are not fun so I apologize in advance.
I coach both my kids in club and little league baseball. Many times, not only are my kids in the car, but several are. What if God forbid I’m driving to Chino Hills for a tournament at Field of Dreams (a spectacular place to play baseball) and in the car is my 13 year old son Alex and three of his friends and we are slammed by a one-ton pickup truck that has no insurance?
I will not go to the extreme since I’m talking about kids, but imagine I fracture my pelvis, Alex has a compound fracture of his femur and each of his friends have multiple fractures, surgeries and hospitalizations. Remember, this one-ton pickup had NO INSURANCE but you have UMBI. Your insurance company ostensibly steps in as the insurer for the uninsured vehicle and pays the medical bills and compensates everyone for their pain and suffering.
Typically, when people purchase insurance, their UMBI limits are the same as their liability limits. For example, the average person will have coverage of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident aka 50/100. Is $100,000 dollars enough to compensate everyone in my car in the accident I described?
Here is where twenty-five years of insurance experience comes into place. In my opinion, when protecting yourself, your family and others, you should consider a story as I described and think what it would take to adequately compensate everyone in your car.
I recommend to all my clients that they carry at the very minimum 100/300 in liability/UMBI limits. When you bring it down to the family level, I strongly recommend families purchase limits of 250/500 and take it one step further with a $1 million UMBI umbrella policy.
Let’s revisit our tragic accident. With the first example, was $100,000 enough to compensate all five of us for injuries I described…no. The limits under my recommendation would be $1.5 million…is that enough to compensate the five of us…in all likelihood…yes.
Insurance is expensive, no one wants it and everyone needs it. When protecting things that matter in your life…you, your spouse, your kids and your home, saving $50.00/month is not worth the inevitable self-inflicted question asked while sitting in the hospital waiting room…why didn’t I purchase higher limits?
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