Car Insurance Question (Uninsured Motor Vehicle Bodily Injury)

[clarkfan1979]

I'm 45 years old and I have never hit another person (with a car). I don't have collision insurance on my car. It's a Pontiac Vibe with 230K miles and worth about $2,000. If I crash my car, I have to buy another car out of pocket, which I am comfortable doing. However, if someone hits me and they don't have insurance, I would like to be covered. I currently have uninsured motor vehicle property damage deductible for $30/year.

I'm in the process of switching insurance for primary home, rental house, two cars, 1 RV and an umbrella policy from Company A (current) to Company B (new). I've been with Company A for 17 years and I have a relationship with the insurance agent. However, company A is 98.8% more expensive than company B for the 3 automobiles and 1 umbrella policy. The home insurance policies are the same price when comparing company A to company B.

Company A quoted me $3,048 to re-new for another year (3 cars & 1 umbrella). Company B quoted me $1533/year for the same coverage. However, company B is recommending that I add Uninsured Motor Vehicle Bodily Injury to my policy for another $731/year. I have never had it in the past.   

I don't think I need Uninsured Motor Vehicle Bodily Injury because I have pretty good health insurance through work. If someone hits me and or my family, I might have to come up with the maximum out of pocket, which is $4750/year individual and $9,500/year for family. However, my health insurance would pay the rest. It's a Kaiser Policy that costs $2270/month for 2 adults and 1 child. My employer pays $1630/month and I pay $640/month. 

This additional coverage (Uninsured Motor Vehicle Bodily Injury) would protect me against paying my maximum family out of pocket of $9,500/year, if I was hit by someone without insurance. Am I understanding this correctly? Am I missing something?


 

[bacchi]

The new policy has MedPay, right? That'll cover your first year deductible.

[GilesMM]

What if a passenger in your car is injured? Would they have a claim against you?

[clarkfan1979]

What if a passenger in your car is injured? Would they have a claim against you?

According to the insurance agent, the uninsured motor vehicle bodily injury policy would cover everyone in the car. However, for a passenger to claim against me, it is my understanding that it would need to be my fault. If it's my fault, that is covered by my 1 million umbrella policy.

In theory, if I had a passenger in my car that didn't have health insurance and we got hit by an uninsured person, it would benefit my passenger for me to buy this extra coverage.

[GilesMM]

What if a passenger in your car is injured? Would they have a claim against you?

According to the insurance agent, the uninsured motor vehicle bodily injury policy would cover everyone in the car. However, for a passenger to claim against me, it is my understanding that it would need to be my fault. If it's my fault, that is covered by my 1 million umbrella policy.

In theory, if I had a passenger in my car that didn't have health insurance and we got hit by an uninsured person, it would benefit my passenger for me to buy this extra coverage.

Suppose the passenger is your grandmother?

[clarkfan1979]

What if a passenger in your car is injured? Would they have a claim against you?

According to the insurance agent, the uninsured motor vehicle bodily injury policy would cover everyone in the car. However, for a passenger to claim against me, it is my understanding that it would need to be my fault. If it's my fault, that is covered by my 1 million umbrella policy.

In theory, if I had a passenger in my car that didn't have health insurance and we got hit by an uninsured person, it would benefit my passenger for me to buy this extra coverage.

Suppose the passenger is your grandmother?

I don't have any living grandparents, but if I did, they would have Medicare. As a result, the uninsured motor vehicle bodily injury would not be necessary.

[Michael in ABQ]

I was just looking at dropping this, or at least lowering it, the other day.

I have excellent health insurance with a deductible of about $150. So, if I'm injured by an uninsured driver (very common here in Albuquerque), my health insurance should cover it. Same with property damage. None of our vehicles are worth more than $10k so carrying $100k of uninsured driver property damage doesn't make sense.



Looks like decreasing bodily injury from $100/300k to $25/50k lower my monthly premium for that coverage from $35 to $20. $25K would at least cover some lost income and pain and suffering beyond medical insurance. My last accident the other insurance company paid out a few thousand dollars for that and I basically just missed a single day or work and had a stiff neck/shoulder for a few days.

[jrhampt]

I was just looking at dropping this, or at least lowering it, the other day.

I have excellent health insurance with a deductible of about $150. So, if I'm injured by an uninsured driver (very common here in Albuquerque), my health insurance should cover it. Same with property damage. None of our vehicles are worth more than $10k so carrying $100k of uninsured driver property damage doesn't make sense.



Looks like decreasing bodily injury from $100/300k to $25/50k lower my monthly premium for that coverage from $35 to $20. $25K would at least cover some lost income and pain and suffering beyond medical insurance. My last accident the other insurance company paid out a few thousand dollars for that and I basically just missed a single day or work and had a stiff neck/shoulder for a few days.

I wouldn't count on this going forward...P&C insurance companies have been struggling to remain profitable and are raising premiums and at least in my experience fighting clams.  I had a driver run a stop sign and total my car, deployed all my airbags.  I got taken to the ER and checked out, had neck/back issues for several months w PT and had to get a lawyer to get a small settlement to cover that; they were just going to cover 2k for the ambulance and ER claim.

[bacchi]

I was just looking at dropping this, or at least lowering it, the other day.

I have excellent health insurance with a deductible of about $150. So, if I'm injured by an uninsured driver (very common here in Albuquerque), my health insurance should cover it. Same with property damage. None of our vehicles are worth more than $10k so carrying $100k of uninsured driver property damage doesn't make sense.



Looks like decreasing bodily injury from $100/300k to $25/50k lower my monthly premium for that coverage from $35 to $20. $25K would at least cover some lost income and pain and suffering beyond medical insurance. My last accident the other insurance company paid out a few thousand dollars for that and I basically just missed a single day or work and had a stiff neck/shoulder for a few days.

I wouldn't count on this going forward...P&C insurance companies have been struggling to remain profitable and are raising premiums and at least in my experience fighting clams.  I had a driver run a stop sign and total my car, deployed all my airbags.  I got taken to the ER and checked out, had neck/back issues for several months w PT and had to get a lawyer to get a small settlement to cover that; they were just going to cover 2k for the ambulance and ER claim.

Same (for my partner). We should've lawyered up at the start but the other driver was 100% at fault and accelerated into the accident. Why would they refuse money for the CT scan? They did, initially, and fought other expenses, but this is another situation where FU/FI money is very helpful. We outlasted them and, in the end, got a lawyer to write a letter.