Automobile and Motorcycle Insurance Tips

Automobile and Motorcycle Insurance Tips:

Liability coverage protects you if you (or another person driving your car with your permission) injure or kill someone or damage property. You should carry as much liability coverage as you can comfortably afford because damage claims today are sometimes settled for millions. State minimums don't come close to covering the cost of a serious accident.

AUTOMOBILES

During our representation of clients seriously injured in automobile accidents a troubling pattern has emerged.  More and more accidents have at-fault drivers with low limits of liability coverage.  Part of this trend is caused by individuals buying automobile insurance online without consulting an agent or listening to a television spokesman who sells price instead of protection.  In order to better protect you and your family we recommend you carry the following coverages on your family automobile(s):

• $250,000/500,000 liability;
• $250,000/500,000 uninsured motorist coverage; and
• $250,000/500,000 underinsured motorist coverage. 

On average, the additional annual cost per car to increase your policy to those limits is $50-80.  By making these changes you set a floor of $250,000 to compensate you for serious injuries you could sustain in an automobile crash.

MOTORCYCLES

Unlike the automobile policy, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages are not required for motorcycles.  You have to request your insurance agent to add those coverages to your policy.  Following a Supreme Court decision in December of 1989 that allowed a motorcycle driver to access the uninsured motorist coverage on his personal automobile, the 1990 Legislature amended the law to provide the ONLY uninsured or underinsured motorist coverages available to the owner of a motorcycle is the coverages purchased for that motorcycle; the owner could not access their personal automobile insurance.  There is a way to avoid this statute; transfer the title of the motorcycle to a spouse/family member.  This allows the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverages on the family automobile to become available to the primary driver of the motorcycle.

As always, we welcome your questions.  You can call a car accident or motorcycle accident attorney at SiebenCarey at 612-333-4500.