Auto insurance questions - UIM

92saturnsl2

92saturnsl2

Joined
Mar 2, 2004
Messages
4,105
Location
Kentucky
My auto insurance renews next month and Geico has raised my rates almost 20% (Merry Christmas!) despite not having any claims or violations. I shop around every 6 months religiously, and sadly, Geico is still the least expensive for the amount of coverage I want, of all the major carriers I've tried.

My question is pertaining to Uninsured Motorist / Underinsured Motorist coverage. The various insurance websites explain that it covers bodily injury resulting from un/underinsured motorists. How does that benefit me beyond my regular health insurance, which I assume would cover injuries from an auto accident? My health insurance has a very low annual deductible/max out of pocket cost, so I'm not particularly worried about that.
 
A friend's older CR-V was totaled when it was parked on a city street by a drunk driver with no insurance. My friend was given $4500 (the max) from her uninsured motorist insurance. Geico as I recall... I'm not sure her CR-V was worth much more than that.

I suggest the Connect insurance through Costco. Saves me a ton. You can get a quick quote on-line. Good luck.
 
JeffKeryk said:
A friend's older CR-V was totaled when it was parked on a city street by a drunk driver with no insurance. My friend was given $4500 (the max) from her uninsured motorist insurance. Geico as I recall... I'm not sure her CR-V was worth much more than that.

I suggest the Connect insurance through Costco. Saves me a ton. You can get a quick quote on-line. Good luck.
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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think UIM coverage covers any vehicle or property damage.
 
92saturnsl2 said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think UIM coverage covers any vehicle or property damage.
Click to expand...

It can, depends on the state and policy...

Sometimes it can also stack so to increase limits if you have more than one vehicle/policy..

Basically UM acts like the other persons insurance if they are uninsured (under-insured is also possible depending on jurisdiction..)
 
92saturnsl2 said:
My question is pertaining to Uninsured Motorist / Underinsured Motorist coverage. The various insurance websites explain that it covers bodily injury resulting from un/underinsured motorists. How does that benefit me beyond my regular health insurance, which I assume would cover injuries from an auto accident? My health insurance has a very low annual deductible/max out of pocket cost, so I'm not particularly worried about that.
Click to expand...
Your health insurance will tell you that their coverage shouldn't apply when someone else is to blame, i.e. auto accident, slipping on your neighbor's porch steps, injury at work, etc. Yes, they'll normally pay your bills but they will try to re-coup that money (subrogation) from other parties.

None of that really matters, at least in Ohio, and I'm sure other states as we're required to have that coverage. Irony is, all vehicle owners are also required to have auto insurance.... 🤔 Underinsured coverage is a different matter because the other party may have $100,000 coverage but there may be $150k in medical bills. That's where YOUR underinsured coverage kicks in.
 
I’d try a smaller insurance company. I’ve had good luck with Iowa mutual and West Bend. Currently with WB.

Just my $0.02
 
I just went thru this with my motorcycle. I had a guy turn left in front of me, and my bike was totaled. They determined he was at fault, from the accident report. He had Geico ins, but only had the minimum ins required to get a license plate in New Jersey. That was a 5 /15 / 30 policy. The 5k was the maximum the policy will pay for property damage. My bike had almost 8k worth of damage. Geico said to put the claim in to my ins, under my un / under insured motorist coverage, and my ins will cut me a check. Which they did, and will somehow get paid back from Geico. Here's the thing to keep in mind. If I only had 5k for property damage, That would be all I would have been able to collect from my ins co. It pays to have the higher liability limits. There was no medical claim submitted in my case, but from what I can gather the max limit the guy that hit me had for med coverage, would be all that I could get from him. I would probably have to sue him for anything above his coverage limit. But if he has no money, then I would have to see if my ins would pay the balance. After all the back and forth between the two companies, it took 7 weeks for me to get the settlement check. Here's something to keep in mind. If you think buying the cheapest policy you can find will cover all your needs, be prepared to defend yourself in court, if the person your involved in a accident with decides to sue you.,,,
 
It's ironic for me see all the Geico insured incidents mentioned here. Couple years ago, daughter was involved in multiple car rear end chain collision which she was at the front, last car in the chain sitting at stop light. Bumper was damaged, knocked partially off. Went very quickly to get estimate and put in for payment from "no doubt at fault" driver, with none other than Geico insurance. Surprise (not), Geico claimed at fault's coverage not enough to cover damage. Daughter's insurance, likely under UIM, paid for it. I suspect her rates went up with that, though I can't confirm but seems likely. Don't know if Progressive went after Geico, but doubt it. Had I been in the same situation, pretty sure I would have at least looked into hiring a lawyer to get some compensation out the at fault. That said, similar to above, at fault likely didn't have two nickels to rub together.
 
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92saturnsl2 said:
My auto insurance renews next month and Geico has raised my rates almost 20% (Merry Christmas!) despite not having any claims or violations. I shop around every 6 months religiously, and sadly, Geico is still the least expensive for the amount of coverage I want, of all the major carriers I've tried.

My question is pertaining to Uninsured Motorist / Underinsured Motorist coverage. The various insurance websites explain that it covers bodily injury resulting from un/underinsured motorists. How does that benefit me beyond my regular health insurance, which I assume would cover injuries from an auto accident? My health insurance has a very low annual deductible/max out of pocket cost, so I'm not particularly worried about that.
Click to expand...
UIM coverage also helps you if in that same situation, you have serious injuries. Best of my knowledge, it can apply to a passenger as well for a not-at-fault accident. It's way beyond what med-pay or group insurance provides. Example is the drunk who hits you with low liability limits (if any) and you or a passenger have permanent injuries.

To simply say "I'll sue the guy", good luck with that if he makes little money or just moves on. You're still stuck with the residual of a permanent injury.

To claim it, you act as a plaintiff against your own carrier to get that money. It isn't inherently a pretty process but if you have a permanent injury it can be very very helpful. I have 250k UIM on my two vehicles; the additional premium is negligible. Some might not agree with my approach, and that's fine and I certainly hope I never have to use it.

HTH
 
If you have Collision on your policy, your company is obligated to cover someone else's collision damage to your car in the case that they don't have (sufficient) insurance. This covers up to the total value of the car except for the deductible (having UIM would cover that). You don't choose a dollar amount of Collision, the rate is based on the value of your car.

In some States the state minimum is ridiculously low, so you should assume that everyone driving at you has effectively no insurance.
 
A huge 15/30/5 in Pa. Many have no insurance although required by law. Or are unauthorized users on the owner's policy, which means no coverage.
 
hank2 said:
Or are unauthorized users on the owner's policy, which means no coverage.
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On almost all vehicle insurance policies, if the vehicle owner gives someone permission to drive their car, they are covered by the owner's insurance. You don't have to call your agent and give the name and details of everyone that drives your car (unless they live at the same address).
 
Hall said:
On almost all vehicle insurance policies, if the vehicle owner gives someone permission to drive their car, they are covered by the owner's insurance. You don't have to call your agent and give the name and details of everyone that drives your car (unless they live at the same address).
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Hence why he said unauthorized. Unauthorized on the insurance Co side of things would be drivers in the same household (not covered) as you noted.

An authorized user would get coverage under the insured’s policy. Someone who steals the car or doesn’t have permission is unauthorized and receives no coverage.
 
It would be highly unusual for a car that was not stolen to be driven by someone who would not be afforded coverage.

"authorized user" is not even an insurance term, "permissive user" is the term. And it can get quite muddy... for instance in some jurisdictions if you let your neighbor use your truck to go to home depot a couple of times then he borrows it while you are out of town to go to home depot he might be considered a permissive user because he might reasonably believe you would have given permission since you have in the past.

If you loan it to him and say "you can go to home depot but nowhere else" and he wrecks it somewhere not between home and home depot he might not be afforded coverage... but again it is going to get muddy probably - particularly if he does not agree you said "no where else".
 
92saturnsl2 said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think UIM coverage covers any vehicle or property damage.
Click to expand...

It can depending on the policy. I have "liability only" and was covered when there was a hit and run and the perp couldn't be tracked down. But it's required for every policy in California. We got it as a cash payout in lieu of repair. It looks messed up but is otherwise functional.
 
DuckRyder said:
It would be highly unusual for a car that was not stolen to be driven by someone who would not be afforded coverage.

"authorized user" is not even an insurance term, "permissive user" is the term. And it can get quite muddy... for instance in some jurisdictions if you let your neighbor use your truck to go to home depot a couple of times then he borrows it while you are out of town to go to home depot he might be considered a permissive user because he might reasonably believe you would have given permission since you have in the past.

If you loan it to him and say "you can go to home depot but nowhere else" and he wrecks it somewhere not between home and home depot he might not be afforded coverage... but again it is going to get muddy probably - particularly if he does not agree you said "no where else".
Click to expand...

When I borrowed a car from a relative, he made sure to add my wife and myself to his coverage for a couple of weeks. He was that paranoid about it.
 
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