Serious injury lawyers like ourselves often hear clients involved in serious accidents tell us that they had “full coverage” at the time of the accident and that they therefore have “excellent” insurance protection. The vast majority of the time, this is not the case at all. This is because the term “full coverage” means that one has the coverage one is minimally required by law to possess. Full coverage does not mean adequate coverage nor does it mean excellent coverage. It means minimally required coverage required by law.
Here in Georgia, in order to operate an automobile, the driver must have a minimum of $25,000.00 in liability coverage protection for any one person, $50,000.00 per accident. What this means is that if someone runs a stop sign and seriously injuries another, he has “full coverage” if he has $25,000.00 in liability insurance coverage for an innocent third-party victim, $50,000.00 for all victims in a single accident. Anyone familiar with hospital and medical costs today knows that any serious injury can hardly be compensated for $25,000.00. Indeed, any serious injury usually involves medical bills far in excess of $25,000.00.
It is heartbreaking for our lawyers to see cases where the at fault driver has “full coverage” and our clients are indeed seriously injured, sometimes with amputations, permanent disabilities and death. In those cases involving death of a family member, $25,000.00 could never adequately compensate the survivors, much less address issues such as medical expenses, funeral bills, lost wages and the like. And yet, we hear over and over again from people inexperienced in this area that they have “full coverage” thereby deluding themselves into believing that they have adequate insurance coverage.
To truly have adequate insurance coverage, one needs to have excellent uninsured motorist coverage. The at fault driver may have “full coverage” that is the minimum amounts required by law, but to have excellent coverage one must protect themselves with uninsured/underinsured insurance coverage. If the at fault driver runs the stop sign and injuries you but only has the minimum coverage required by law ($25,000.00 per person, $50,000.00 per accident), you can protect yourself through the purchase of uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage in any amount desired. One can purchase $100,000.00, $500,000.00 or $5 million. In the case where the at fault driver causes serious injury or death, the higher “underinsured” limits will provide relief whereas the minimally required “full coverage” will provide virtually no relief at all.
We continue to urge all Georgia citizens to carefully review their automobile insurance policies. What protection do you have if you are seriously injured? If you do not have uninsured/underinsured insurance protection, you are at the mercy of the at fault driver. If he/she has “full coverage,” you are seriously injured, and you do not have uninsured/underinsured coverage under your own policy, you may be in more trouble than you know.
