What if you or your household family member were involved in an accident with an uninsured driver and you or your family or even a passenger in the car are injured, who will pay for the medical expenses, lost wages, emotional distress or pain and suffering sustained due to the accident? The other driver may not have insurance or may have low bodily injury liability limits. Some protection will be available with Personal Injury Protection coverage on your automobile policy. The only thing is that it is typically $10,000. So what if the expenses come to $100,000. If you carry uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage, there would be coverage available up to a certain limit. If you reject uninsured motorist coverage that can lead to a worst-case scenario that no one wants to have happened which is no coverage. You, your family, and even that passenger have to pay the out of pocket for their expenses. Even if everyone has health insurance, some things are not covered. Lost wages, pain, and suffering, emotional distress, etc. Florida has ranked 1st for the highest percentage of uninsured motorists. That should be alarming to most people and that is one good reason to consider stacking to your policy. When you do stack you need to check for gaps in your coverage and the limits are the same on all.
Let’s say Frank has three vehicles and he has uninsured bodily injury coverage of 25/150 per person per accident and he has them on the same policy. If the car insurance has an unstacked uninsured motorist coverage then each vehicle is only getting that kind of coverage, 25/150. If you or your family member are injured by an uninsured motorist the cost would only come from one policy of 25/150. But if you have added stacked uninsured motorist then each of the vehicle's policy amounts would roll into one giving coverage of 75/450. The amounts of how much it raises will be based on vehicles on the policy. The main point is not to depend on others doing the right thing and get the coverage. It's only up to you to protect your family and yourself sufficiently.
Being financially smart and secure will only help you in life when retirement is the last thing on your mind or even if it is. With the stress of buying a car, home, or starting a family its frustrating to even think about saving for the future. Working towards financial security isn't really difficult when you add insurance to your budget. Working on this goal even has some benefits like reducing stress. Balancing between your life today and your future is important. Financially, we can't live as if today is our last day. We have to decide between what we spend today versus what we spend in the future. Finding the correct balance is an important first step toward achieving financial security.
Your skills, experience, and knowledge are the largest assets anyone has. The value of your future earnings will be more than any savings or investments you might have for most of your career. That is why having the right and needed coverage for you and your auto. Your job and future career are the most important factors in gaining independence financially. You are your number one asset.
Investing in yourself will pay off in the future. Increasing your value through hard work, knowledge, better skills along with the right career choice. Efforts improving your career can have a larger impact on your financial security than trying to save more.
Research has shown that those who plan for the future will have more wealth than those who don't. Successful individuals are more goal-oriented. Setting goals and ways to achieve them. Being goal-oriented and following a plan means taking control of your life. This is an important step towards improving your stability for financial independence and security. Making money is good but saving it and making it grow is another. Financial management and investing are lifelong endeavors. Making sound financial and investment decisions is very important to achieve financial goals. People who are more knowledgeable on finances usually end up with more wealth than those who don't. Taking the time to know areas of personal finance, investing and insurance needs will pay off throughout your life.
So the difference between the two is like night or day. Either you pay extra to stack your policies or you do not. If you do not you will not have the extra protection of being able to use another vehicle's limits. In today's economy with lawsuits winning large sums this type of coverage seems to really help families and retirees with an extra pad of protection. Older drivers have been seen on the news which a senior has an accident with injuries, substantial damage, or even worse. Many would think insurance for this group would be higher but it is not. With the ease of internet shopping around can be even easier and comparing rates can yield big savings with more coverage. While being affordable matters don't make it your only box to check. Making sure the coverage for liability is enough to protect all of your assets. With older people usually having a higher net worth it is even more important for them to have enough liability coverage like stack insurance. Should the total for an accident is more than the limit for your one car you will be paying for that out of pocket. Don't forget to check for discounts or savings because of most of the insurance companies off them and especially for older drivers. Make sure you are getting the value you deserve. Having a stacked policy protects everyone in the household from the potentially devastating medical bill when your in an accident with an under-insured or uninsured driver. The statistics show there are too many careless and reckless drivers not to have the added peace of mind or security. Talk with your agent today and see what they can do for your protection.