MANY MOTORISTS LACK FULL UNINSURED COVERAGE – MOBILE PRESS-REGISTER EDITORIAL BY GREG BREEDLOVE

The April 14 letter from Glenn Davis (“Uninsured drivers should pay for damages”) regarding uninsured drivers on our streets points out a real problem with our system.

True, all drivers are supposed to have liability insurance. However, only about 50 percent of them do. Additionally, many that do have insurance only have coverage of $25,000. This will barely cover a brief hospital stay.

As a practicing lawyer here in Mobile for the past 25 years, I have counseled numerous clients who have been in the same position as Mr. Davis. They had insurance on their car, but the other driver did not and they were then left holding the bag.

Mr. Davis’ proposal to pass a law to make the uninsured driver pay is a good one. However, this will take years to put into place. The immediate solution is to simply pay a few dollars more each month to purchase excess “uninsured motorist coverage” on your own insurance policy so that you will be provided up to $500,000 rather than the minimum amount of $25,000 as is required by law.

This is the secret that the insurance companies do not tell the public. They tell the insured that they are “fully insured,” but the fact is if you simply have a minimum limits policy you are vastly underinsured. Readers should contact their insurance carriers today to increase their uninsured motorist coverage to protect themselves and their families.