According to the Insurance Information Institute, in 2019, California ranked #10 for having the most uninsured motorists, with an uninsured rate of 16.6%. Mississippi ranked first with an uninsured rate of 29.4%. https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-uninsured-motorists. In 2020. The United States Census Bureau estimated California’s 2020 population to be 39.5 Million. That means there is an average of somewhere between 7-8 Million uninsured drivers on the road. If you live in Southern California, you know the chances of getting into an auto accident are almost triple, especially on the 405.
The best way to protect yourself and your loved ones is to obtain uninsured motorist coverage/underinsured motorist coverage through your auto insurance carrier. This coverage is not mandatory in California and many brokers and insurance salespersons quickly gloss over this extremely important coverage.
So what is uninsured motorist coverage? Exactly what it means – this coverage protects your bodily injuries against uninsured drivers. In the same way, collision coverage protects your car from other drivers, uninsured motorist (“UM”) protects your body against negligent uninsured drivers.
What Is underinsured motorist coverage? California only requires drivers to carry a minimum of $15,000 per person, and $30,000 per accident liability coverage to comply with state law. This is too low. This means that if you do not have underinsured motorist coverage and you are hit by someone who carries the state minimum, you are stuck with $15,000, which quite frankly, isn’t much these days. Underinsured motorist coverage, (“UIM”), supplements whatever the negligent driver has. Here at Castro & Co we recommend going as high as you can. For an extra $30-$50 a month, you could have million-dollar coverage. What is the value of a life or limb?
