We all want the best price when it comes to car insurance, but cheaper premiums come with some risks. In Delaware, there are different types of coverage that come in your policy when you buy car insurance—PIP (personal injury protection), liability (protects you financially if you are responsible for someone else’s injuries or property damage), and uninsured (UM)/underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage are some of them. Typically, the lower your premium, the lower the amount of coverage you’ve purchased to protect yourself and your family. For those of you thinking “I have full coverage,” that only means your policy meets the State’s legal limits, but those limits don’t go very far. Let us quickly explain:
Delaware requires you to have a minimum amount of $15,000 in PIP. Your PIP is what pays immediately for medical treatment (i.e., ambulance rides, emergency room, etc.) and more importantly, timely reimbursement of lost wages to you if you are unable to work because of injuries from an accident. However, after an expensive ambulance ride and ER visit, there’s usually not much left to pay you for lost wages.
At Kimmel Carter, we encourage clients to purchase $100,000 per person / $300,000 per accident of PIP coverage to pay their medical bills and lost wages following a motor vehicle accident. We also recommend a minimum of $100,000 per person / $300,000 per accident of bodily injury liability and UM/UIM coverage, although purchasing even more coverage (i.e. $500,000 or $1,000,000 of bodily injury liability and UM/UIM coverage) is preferable. Moreover, an excess/umbrella bodily injury liability policy and an excess/umbrella UM/UIM policy can best protect our clients from catastrophic injuries.
If you have any questions or have been injured in an auto accident, reach out to an attorney at Kimmel Carter at 302-565-6100 for a free legal consultation.
