Is uninsured motorist coverage necessary?

From time to time during our consultations with potential clients, we will find that they will want to leave out uninsured motorist coverage to save on their rates. This is the classic case of "saving pennies to risk dollars" mentality. At my agency we will never force a client into a particular cover but what we usually find is that clients avoid taking coverage because they do not have an understanding of what the coverage is or why they SHOULD have it. Our goal is to always ensure that clients have a good understanding of how they will be protected and why they should have the cover we discuss in our conversations.

Lets start with an explanation of what uninsured motorist is and what it covers. Uninsured motorist coverage protects the you, the insured, from losses that other drivers cause when that driver does not have insurance coverage themselves. Although insurance coverage is mandated in the state of Georgia, there are still drivers that do not have auto insurance. Based on statistics from the Insurance Research Council website as of 2015, Georgia had at least 12% of drivers uninsured and the state ranked 25th in that percentage. Those number have surely risen since then. As of 2017, Georgia has a little over 7M licensed drivers and taking into account that 12% are uninsured that would be roughly 840,000 licensed drivers that do not have auto insurance coverage. These numbers are staggering and a definite reason to have uninsured motorist coverage.

My agency philosophy is to make sure that you are not surprised when an accident happens. By having uninsured motorist, you are protecting yourself from drivers who are violating the law. If you are not sure if you have this coverage, please contact your insurance carrier or agent today to have this conversation. We also welcome the opportunity to review your current auto policy and see if there are any surprising gaps in your coverage. My office is ready to help.