When buying or renewing car insurance, do you pay attention to your limits? Have you updated your policy limits over the past 10 years or more? Do you have the kinds of protection that adequately cover your family?

     As an experienced personal injury lawyer, I have some observations based on handling people’s accident cases since 1982. On most of my suggestions, your insurance agent is likely to agree.

     The types of insurance that protect you and your family most are liability coverage (which protects you if you cause an accident) and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (which protects you, your family and your passengers when another driver is at fault but either is uninsured or does not carry an adequate amount of insurance).

     Of these coverages, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is the least understood and least appreciated.

Uninsured Motorists

     Estimates are that as many as 20% of cars on the road are uninsured. A much greater number, in my opinion as many as two-thirds to three-quarters, are underinsured. By this I mean they do not have adequate insurance coverage to protect you in the event that another driver causes an accident which injures you, your child or someone with you.

     Anyone reading this article should have at least $100,000 of liability coverage, preferably more. Most insurance companies write policies with what are called split limits meaning that there is one maximum amount for injury or death suffered by one person and a separate maximum amount for all injuries (or deaths) in any one accident, no matter how many there are. Coverage of $100,000/$300,000 for liability would be the bare minimum I would recommend.

     How much uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage (they are sold together) should you carry to protect your family? You can only carry as much as your liability limits but you definitely should not carry less. Because injuries can occur in accidents caused by drunk drivers and careless drivers, and injuries can seriously impact not only a working adult but a child or non-income earning spouse, I think it is best to carry limits that provide at least $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident.

     Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is cheap protection. Look at the premiums charged for liability coverage, collision coverage or comprehensive coverage. Compare those premiums to uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Increasing uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (along with liability coverage) is usually inexpensive for what you get, peace of mind.

Umbrella Policies

     A number of people in our area have umbrella insurance policies. These are often sold as $1,000,000 umbrella policies. With umbrella policies you may not need to have as much basic auto liability insurance as you were carrying (therefore you might save some money on your auto insurance premiums by buying an umbrella policy). Then the $1,000,000 umbrella adds $1,000,000 to your auto limits. Importantly, some insurance companies include uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage as part of your umbrella. Warning: some do not. An example of a company that includes uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in its umbrella policies is State Farm. On the other hand, Allstate does not. I represent policyholders of Allstate in one case who were very surprised to learn from Allstate that it claimed not to provide underinsured motorist coverage under their umbrella policy (but, good news: a recent court decision says they and others in their situation do get this coverage, at least as of early 1999). If you have an umbrella policy, check with your insurance agent to be sure that you have uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage up to the umbrella limits. This is protection that covers you, your family members and passengers in your vehicle when another driver causes serious injury. If your insurance company (like Allstate) doesn’t include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in your umbrella policy, I think you should find an insurance company that does.



Peter Glazer is a Lake Oswego lawyer whose practice emphasizes personal injury, civil trial work and domestic relations cases. He has represented hundreds of accident victims in insurance cases since entering private practice in 1982. The general information provided in this article does not constitute legal advice and is not specific to any one situation. If you have a question about insurance that your agent can’t answer, you may wish to talk with a lawyer. If you have a question about an accident claim or other insurance matter, you should talk to a lawyer for legal advice specific to your situation.