WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CAR INSURANCE IN FLORIDA

DO YOU REALLY HAVE “FULL COVERAGE”?

Almost every client who has come to me about a car accident has told me that she has “full coverage” when asked about insurance. Unfortunately, the term “full-coverage” is not a legally defined term, and in Florida most people are told that they have “full coverage” so long as they have the coverage that is required by the State of Florida, which is only $10,000.00 each of property damage liability (PD), which covers the repairs to the other driver’s vehicle when you cause an accident, and personal injury protection (PIP), also known as “no-fault” insurance because it is the coverage that pays a portion of your medical bills and lost wages when you have been injured in a car accident regardless of who is at-fault. Unfortunately, this insurance alone is far from giving you the “full coverage” insurance that you need.

Because the State of Florida requires that its car owners carry only $10,000.00 in property damage liability coverage, there is the risk that someone with such limited coverage may cause a collision that does more damage to your vehicle than that amount. Or what recently happened to a client of mine could happen to you: A person rear-ended him with such force that his vehicle was pushed into the car in front of him and that person only had the required property damage coverage which did not come close to covering the value of my client’s vehicle which was a total loss, much less the damage to the third vehicle and the rental coverage for the two victims of that accident. Fortunately, my client was carrying collision coverage at the time, so he did recover the full value of his vehicle; however, he did not have rental coverage so he ended up paying for his own. It is thus important to have collision and rental coverage on all of your cars.

Moreover, and in some respects more importantly, the State of Florida also does not require drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage, which is what pays your out-of-pocket medical expenses and lost wages (anything over and above what PIP covers) when you are injured in a car accident. As such, it is very likely that you could get injured in an accident caused by a driver who is not carrying any insurance to cover your medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering. Because of this, it is highly important that Florida drivers carry uninsured motorist coverage. This important coverage steps in when you are injured by a driver who does not carry any bodily injury liability coverage or who does not carry enough to compensate for your losses.

So please make sure you really are fully covered when driving on these busy streets of South Florida, including sufficient property damage liability to protect you, collision and rental coverage, bodily injury liability to cover you in case you cause an accident, and most importantly uninsured motorist coverage in case you are ever injured in a car accident. If ever you are in a car accident, call the Law Offices of Rebecca S. Taylor, P.A. for a free consultation. We are conveniently located at 9900 West Sample Road, Third Floor, Coral Springs, Florida.