I recently settled a claim for a client who had been badly hurt when she was struck by a car while riding her bike. She was thrown to the sidewalk, landing on her shoulder and head, then spent three days in a suburban hospital. Concussion, memory loss, foggy thinking, closed head injury, and a shoulder injury. The driver who hit her was on his cell phone and he didn’t have any insurance. What my client didn’t know is that she was covered for the injuries she suffered through her own insurance, through her uninsured motorist coverage. Fortunately, she had decent insurance limits of $100,000 per person. (The state minimum and most prevalent coverage is only $25,000 per person.) Her own insurance company covered all of her medical bills, her lost wages from work, and a fair amount for her pain and suffering.



It’s so important to protect yourself and your family with adequate uninsured (and underinsured) motorist coverage. The state-allowed minimum limits just don’t cut it. Many ER bills after an accident exceed or come close to that minimum coverage. You need at least $100,000 of UM and UIM coverage, which is very inexpensive as an upgrade to your policy, to be close to covered in the event the unexpected occurs. That uninsured motorist coverage applies to you and your family members who live with you if you’re hurt in your own car, in the car of someone else, as a pedestrian, and as a bicyclist if you’re hit by a driver without insurance. It’s crucial that you have that UM and UIM coverage!