Why do we as consumers not care about the specifics of our auto insurance policies? Is that we think we will never need a great delay of coverage because we don’t anticipate getting in an accident? This logic seems absurd and would justify his ode to anticipating getting sick with foregoing health insurance.
Thankfully Illinois law requires that car owners have minimum amounts of auto liability insurance coverage – bodily injury limits of at least $25,000 per person per accident and $50,000 total per accident, and property damage liability limits of at least $20,000 per accident. 625 ILCS 5/7-203. While the state minimums seem awfully low, people seem hell bent on purchasing the lowest amount of coverage dollar wise to save money.
As a personal injury attorneys there is no other constant lesson I am confronted with more often than clients under compensated for their injuries in car accidents because they didn’t think to spend an additional $10 a month!
I called State Farm Insurance today and procured a quote for car insurance. I told them I was a single male 35 years old that drove 12,000 miles a year or more and used my car for work and pleasure. I told them I had no accident or damage claims over the last three years and I had a good driving record. Here is what they told me:
I could obtain coverage of $50,000 for my car for approximately $120 per month. With this I am provided uninsured coverage for an equal amount, meaning that if the driver that hits my car has no coverage I can make a claim on my own policy for up to $50k.
What is most interesting is that for $8 more a month I could get coverage of $100,000 and for $16 more I could get coverage up to $250,000. I will say that again. For $16 more a month, I could have $250,000 in coverage instead of $50,000!
The things we choose to spend money on is nonsensical. Spend the extra $16 please. We have had 7 clients this week that sustained serious life altering injuries that didn’t spend the extra $16 and they will be forever impacted by their mistaken belief that they’ll never need auto insurance.
Contact our attorneys today if you need help evaluating the difference options to find the right auto insurance coverage for you. We want to make sure our clients are fully protected when they are on the road and we are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.
