JONES LAW GROUPYour Lawyers for Life! Personal Injury Law Firm in St. Petersburg
Will filing an uninsured motorist claim raise your insurance rates in Florida? Learn how UM coverage works, what it covers, and why you need it after a car accident.
Call our personal injury law office directly at (727) 512-9847
At Jones Law Group in St. Petersburg, FL, we would like to hear from you. Contact us for a free personal injury case consultation.
Call our personal injury law office at (727) 512-9847
Get educated on the Florida's personal injury laws and more.
By: Heath C. Murphy + – Car Accidents
I scream about the benefits of maintaining an uninsured motorist policy. I do it so often I feel like Don Quixote trying to right the world’s impossible wrongs. In simple terms, a standard automobile insurance policy is to protect the people you hit. In other words, it is to protect strangers. Uninsured motorist coverage protects you and your loved ones. It is that simple.
How Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Work?
Florida requires that drivers maintain automobile insurance in the amount of $10,000.00 in PIP coverage and $10,000.00 in property damage coverage. That is it. If you are thinking what if someone gets hurt in the accident, the answer is there is no insurance to pay for their injuries. Now imagine that you are driving down 4th Street in St. Pete and as you cross 38th Avenue, a man with the insurance coverage I just described runs the red light and t-bones your car on the driver’s side door. You suffer cuts, bruises, a broken collar bone and a concussion. You are transported to the hospital where you are held overnight for treatment and observation. What is the likely outcome?
First, it is very likely that your bills from the hospital, alone, will exceed $25,000.00. The PIP coverage on your policy will pay 80% of medical expenses and 60% of lost wages up to a maximum amount of $10,000.00. The at-fault driver’s insurance will not pay for any of your medical bills. Remember he did not purchase bodily injury coverage on his policy. Likewise, it will not pay for pain and suffering or lost wages. Using my example, your PIP insurance will pay out $10,000.00, but you will be left holding the bag for the remaining money owed for your medical treatment. Even if you have good health insurance, this bill can quickly run into the thousands of dollars. Without good health insurance, it can force hardworking people into bankruptcy through no fault of their own. This is the result if you rejected the uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage on your policy.
Now, if you have UM coverage, your own insurance company will step in an pay for your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering which were not paid for by your PIP coverage. Your UM coverage will pay an amount up to the predetermined amount of insurance that you purchased. That sounds great, right? The next question that everyone asks me is, will my insurance rates go up for making a UM claim?
Can My Insurance Company Raise My Rates If I Make a UM Claim?
The good news is that Florida law prohibits an insurance company from raising the rates on their insured because an uninsured motorist claim was made by the insured. It sounds great and it is a nice protection for consumers, but an insurance company can raise your rates because the accident itself caused you to lose discounts offered by the company. As a practical matter, those discounts are generally lost when the accident occurs and are not dependent upon the filing an uninsured motorist claim. In my opinion, not filing an uninsured motorist claim because of the fear of higher rates is not a justified fear.
Contact an Experienced Car Accident Lawyer at The Law Offices of Bobby Jones
Have you or a loved one been injured in a car accident? Contact an experienced St. Petersburg car accident attorney at Jones Law Group today. When you contact our office we will immediately set an appointment where you will meet your attorney and be provided with his/her personal contact information. If you do not have transportation or you cannot drive, your attorney will travel to meet you and discuss your case with you.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident caused by the negligence of another, you should immediately call an experienced personal injury attorney in St. Petersburg at Jones Law Group at (727) 571-1333 during regular business hours or (727) 753-8657 on weekends or after regular business hours. We will evaluate your case for free and you will never pay us a dime unless we recover compensation for your injuries.
Jones Law Group
5622 Central Avenue
St. Pete, FL 33707
References:
Mechanical failures due to poor maintenance, unstable or unsecured loads, truck driver fatigue, reckless driving practices, and other forms of negligence contribute to the 8 types of truck accidents. Summary The types of injury that a victim suffers will often depend on the type of truck accidents they’re in. There are actually several different ways […]
America is facing a labor shortage unlike at any time in recent memory, and the trucking industry is no exception. There is a major lack of drivers, and that’s putting everyone on the road at an increased risk. Car accidents are bad enough when two or more passengers are involved. When the typical four-wheel vehicle […]
Any kind of car accident can be catastrophic, of course, but head-on collisions are particularly horrible. While these types of accidents are, thankfully, fairly rare, they tend to either be fatal, or result in injuries that can have lifelong consequences. Safe driving is obviously always a priority, no matter where you live. But in a […]
Choosing a law firm after an accident is a difficult choice. With so many law firms advertising about large settlements and results, it is easy to be led astray into choosing a personal injury “mill” that only cares about their bottom line. This begs the questions: what is a personal injury mill and how do […]
Any sort of catastrophic injury, no matter what happens to cause it, will typically result in a lifetime of pain, misery and debilitation. When that injury is due to someone else’s negligence, such as when the driver of a car hits a motorcycle, or a careless truck driver collides with a passenger vehicle, that can […]
Rear-end accidents can inflict physical and psychological injuries that entail lasting effects. Summary A rear-end accident occurs when one driver crashes into the back of another vehicle. It is one of the most common types of car accidents, along with head-on, T-bone, and sideswipe accidents. Victims of a rear-end accident can suffer severe injuries that […]
Speak with us before time runs out! In Florida, you have a limited window to file a personal injury case, so speak to an Attorney today.
Call our personal injury law office directly at (727) 512-9847
Jones Law Group is a dedicated personal injury lawyer in St. Petersburg, FL, serving the Tampa Bay area since 2006. Our experienced attorneys specialize in car accidents, slip and fall cases, employment law disputes, construction law issues, and overtime wage claims, fighting for maximum compensation on a contingency fee basis. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case.
Call our personal injury law office at (727) 512-9847
© Copyright 2006–2025 Jones Law Group Attorneys at Law. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy Terms of Use
Attorney Advertising.
The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
We will gladly call you on your schedule.
Use the secure and confidential form below.
