THE FACTS:
- You live in Pennsylvania with your wife and son;
- You own three vehicles;
- You insure all three vehicles with the same insurance company;
- Your son is involved in an accident in which the other driver ran a red light hitting your son’s vehicle;
- Your son suffers significant injuries;
- The other driver does not have any insurance;
- Your policy has uninsured motorist benefits of $100,000.00.
THE RESULT:
- The driver who caused the accident did not insure his vehicle and has no assets;
- In Pennsylvania, uninsured motorist (UM) coverage must be offered with all policies;
- If you did not want this coverage you must specifically reject such coverage;
- You selected UM coverage of $100,000.00;
- You also had the option to stack this coverage;
- Stacking is the cumulation of coverages in order to create a greater pool of benefits for recovery;
- This means with three cars if you stacked coverage you have $300,000.00 of available coverage;
- If you did not specifically reject stacking you are automatically given stacking.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
- The coverage you select is critically important.