Quote:
Originally Posted by Lovey2
(Post 2306665)
While trying to get a quote today we were were told by an insurance agent that we did not need to have Uninsured Motorist coverage. He said that Medicare would cover our medical. Does anyone know if this is true? I did search online and it said yes, that Medicare would cover us for medical, just not for other things UNI would cover...loss of wages, mental anguish, the car itself, etc. We're curious if anyone has dropped their Uninsured Motorist coverages. I never really gave it any thought, just always had it. Thanks...
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UM/UIM is the most important insurance you can buy. Any agent who tries to talk an insured out of having it should be flayed alive or buried up to his/her neck in an ant hill.
Liability insurance benefits someone you injure and protects your assets against a claim by the injured person.
UM/UIM insurance protects you and your family by stepping into the place of the uninsured/underinsured driver and pays for your medical care, lost earnings, and pain and suffering. If your claim is not resolved by negotiation, it goes to arbitration. Most arbitrators, myself included, lean in favor of the insured, recognizing that he/she has paid for the coverage and is deserving of its benefits.
UM/UIM covers claims "arising out of the use of an automobile". Thus, if you are a pedestrian and hit by an auto, whether on a street or in a parking lot, you have coverage. If you are riding a bicycle and a person throws open a car door in your path, you're covered. The UM/UIM coverage is very broad. It covers you and members of your family not only in the vehicle you have insured, but in any vehicle in which you or a family member is a passenger. This gives you great comfort when your teenage child is out riding with his/her no-good friend or your aged parent who lives with you is riding with his/her half-blind friend.
Perhaps the greatest benefit is the Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage as you get to choose the amount of protection you want for yourself, your family, and your passengers. It covers your damages in excess of the limits of the person who injured you. Thus, if that person had the minimum limits of 15/30 and you have UM/UIM limits of $1M, you can recover up to $985,000 from your own carrier. During the years I was practicing law in California with its outrageous number of uninsured/underinsured drivers, illegal aliens, druggies, etc, I spent a great deal of time driving to/from courthouses and law offices on some of the most high-risk roads in the country. To protect myself and my family, I carried UM/UIM limits of $5M as, were I to be killed or disabled, the odds were that it would be while in an automobile. Of course, now that I am retired, our children grown, and we are financially secure, I have reduced those limits to $1M. For anyone who thinks I was being overly cautious, I should mention that I had a 34 year old partner with a non-working wife and two young children, who was killed by a drunk driver.
The worst thing about insurance agents is that they sell insurance by price and not by the needs of the insured. Thus, as the OP noted, the agent told him that he didn't need UM/UIM so as to reduce the premium he quoted. Other agents tell their clients that UM/UIM is "not required". If an insurance agent tells you this, stand up and leave his/her office immediately.
The agent also told the OP that Medicare would cover his medical expenses. While this is true, everyone our age knows that Medicare is limited, particularly as regards long-term care. For those who have chosen an Advantage plan, your choice of doctors is further limited. UM/UIM coverage is only limited by the amount of coverage you are willing to buy.
I'll close this diatribe by telling the saddest I handled. A very successful man was referred to me by his business attorney. The man's son was killed when a passenger in a car of college students returning home after final exams overturned when the driver fell asleep (a not uncommon accident for students returning to California from college in Nevada or Utah). The driver had the minimum limits of 15/30 which his carrier promptly paid. The father wanted me to recover what I could from his own insurer, which the father thought had limits of $Millions. He intended to fund a scholarship in his son's name with whatever I was able to obtain. It turned out that his insurance agent had him sign a form declining all UM/UIM coverage as it substantially reduced the premium and the agent was competing on price with another agent. While he was very successful in his business, the father knew little about insurance. I knew the offending agent. I cussed him out to his face and bad-mouthed him to everyone I could for the years I remained in practice.