Auto Insurance: What is the State Limit?

Florida law only requires that your auto insurance policy have $10,000 liability coverage for property damage to the other person’s car and $10,000 coverage for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) to pay for your own medical bills and lost wages. This is known as “no-fault” insurance, and Florida is a no-fault state.  These coverages do not protect you from any claims for personal injury brought by the other driver against you.

Why Should I Carry More Than the State Minimum Auto Insurance Limits?

Florida law does not require you to have Bodily Injury Liability (BIL) insurance to pay for the other person’s medical bills, lost earnings or disfigurement, pain and suffering and loss of the capacity to enjoy life. BIF insurance is liability coverage to protect your assets if you are at fault in an accident and the other person is injured and sues you.

What We Recommend

We suggest that you buy Bodily Injury Liability coverage in the amount of $100,000 per person/$300,000 per incident (accident), at a bare minimum. However, we suggest that you buy higher limits if you have substantial assets that you want to protect. But know that there is a way to get more Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) and Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM) than your Bodily Injury Liability coverage by buying a “stacked” policy.

Uninsured motorist coverage (UM) helps pay for your accident-related expenses if you’re hit by a driver without car insurance. Underinsured motorist coverage (UIM) helps pay for your expenses if the other drivers insurance coverage is insufficient to cover your bills after an accident.

What is a Stacked Policy?

When buying UIM/UM coverage, we always recommend a “stacked” policy as opposed to a “non-stacked” policy. This means if you have more than one vehicle on the policy, you can “stack” them all together to increase the limits of your UIM/UM coverage.

Example:

• $250,000 /$500,000 Uninsured Motorist Coverage
• x 2 cars on your auto insurance policy

• = $500,000 per person / $1,000,000 per accident of insurance coverage available

When you have “stacked” coverage, the coverage limits can be higher. In this example, you would be able to collect up to $500,000 for your injuries, and up to $1,000,000 for all people injured in your car. Buying a “stacked” policy is only slightly more expensive than a “non-stacked” policy and is well worth the additional expense to protect you and your family.

To get a “stacked” quote on your insurance policy or to check on your current coverages, contact RMC Group at 239-298-8210 or [email protected].