Columbus Georgia Personal Injury Lawyer Mark Jones Speaks on Uninsured Motorist Coverage.
Four Tips After You Have Been Hit by a Driver With No Insurance.
LawyerMarkJones.Com Can Assist With Uninsured Motorist Claims
Introduction: Did Someone with No Insurance Hit You? In Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama, uninsured drivers are out there. Statistics show that one out of every five drivers is uninsured! That means if you are in a wreck, you have a 20% chance of being hit by someone without any insurance coverage to pay your medical bills, lost wages, and And they are causing car wrecks every day. Oftentimes, my clients in Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama do not realize that they may carry their own insurance that may cover their losses in the event they are in an automobile wreck. It is called uninsured motorist coverage. What follows are four tips Lawyer Mark Jones provides his clients with after they have been hit by an uninsured or underinsured motorist.
Tip 1: Your Own Insurance Will Likely Cover Your Medical Bills, Lost Wages, and Pain and Suffering. In both Georgia and Alabama, insurance companies must offer you uninsured motorist coverage, which is insurance against getting hit by someone in a car wreck who does not have automobile insurance. Therefore, it is very likely that you have this coverage. Furthermore, the insurance company must offer the uninsured motorist coverage in writing and secure an express rejection of the coverage in both Georgia and Alabama. Therefore, even if the insurance company tells you verbally that you do not have the coverage, they may be incorrect. I cannot tell you how many times the insurance company cannot produce the written rejection in cases where I have represented the people of Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama in a car wreck. It is essential that you have an experienced attorney assist you in determining whether or not you have uninsured motorist coverage on your own automobile policy after a wreck.
Tip 2: You Family’s Uninsured Motorist Coverage May Apply to Pay Your Medical Bills, Lost Wages, and Pain and Suffering Following a Car Wreck. An often overlooked issue that even experienced attorneys miss is the fact that the omnibus provision in insurance policies in Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama include resident relatives in the definition of “insured” for purposes of uninsured motorist coverage. In English, this means that if you live with a relative who has their own insurance coverage at the time of your wreck, their uninsured motorist coverage may apply to cover your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. So that annoying uncle that lives with you and has his own automobile policy? Yeah, he may have insurance coverage that applies to help you out after a car wreck! Pretty cool, huh?
Tip 3: If You have Multiple Automobiles With Insurance, You May Be Able to “Stack” Coverages. Some insurance companies, like State Farm, issue separate policies for each vehicle they insure. This means you can generally “stack” any uninsured motorist coverages to create a larger total coverage amount to pay your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering following a car wreck. So, if you owned three vehicles and each vehicle has a separate policy of $25,000.00 in uninsured motorist coverages, you can stack those policies on top of each other in many cases for a total coverage amount of $75,000.00 if you have been hurt in a wreck. Further, in Alabama, you can stack multiple vehicles on the same policy in many cases under Alabama’s uninsured motorist act. Note that Georgia does not allow such intrapolicy stacking, but does allow the stacking of multiple, separate policies of coverage.
Tip 4: Your Insurance Will Not Be Cancelled By Simply Filing an Underinsured or Uninsured Motorist Claim. In Georgia, simply filing a claim for uninsured motorist coverage does not permit an insurance company from cancelling your coverage. However, Georgia does allow the insurance company to refuse to renew your coverage. The truth is that there is so much competition in the automobile insurance industry, a company that raises rates simply for filing an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim probably does not deserve your business and plenty of other companies would love to offer you coverage at an equal or potentially lesser rate.
Lawyer Mark Jones has advanced experience in representing clients in Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama. Call him today for a free consultation if you have been hurt by an uninsured or underinsured driver. 706-225-2555. Be sure to ask Mark about his military discount for active duty soldiers.
