Why Is It Important To Have Uninsured Motorist Coverage In Florida?

I read an article in the Orlando Sentinel this morning, and the facts of the case that was described in the article were such that I just wanted to share with our viewers and hopefully provide some information and advice that might help somebody in the future.  Last night, a 42-year old gentleman was stopped in traffic on South Orange Blossom Trail at Americana Boulevard and apparently was rear-ended at fairly high rated speed by a drunk driver, a suspected drunk driver because he hasn’t been proven guilty yet.  Unfortunately, the gentleman who was rear-ended was killed in the accident so obviously I thought and prayers go out to his family.  But what I wanted to focus on was what happened after the accident.  Apparently, the gentleman who did the rear-ending left the scene of the accident, tried to flee and was eventually located and found and as I said, he’s been charged with drunk driving not been found guilty yet of course so we’ll figure out — find out what happens with that later.

But it turns out that the gentleman who was the perpetrator was — has been in the country for about 7 years from someplace down in Central America and has never bothered to get a driver’s license; obviously, without a driver’s license, it’s very unlikely that he has automobile insurance, so it very well could be that this family of the deceased driver could be facing a situation where there’s absolutely no insurance which would be tragic for them because if he’s a breadwinner or someone who is dependant upon by the family and now he’s gone, so it could be a major problem for this family.

So, to me, these highlights – and I preach about this all the time if you watch the other videos that we produce–we preach all the time about how important it is to have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage in Florida.  Just in Central Florida alone, statistics that came out last year tell us that 100,000 drivers on the roads drive without any insurance at all and so any of those people could hit you and devastate you or your loved one’s lives and have basically have no recourse against them or they would have no ability to pay damages that they caused you or your family.  So, uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage is something that you can buy, you carried on your cars.  If you’re hit by someone who doesn’t have insurance, it steps into their shoes and acts just like they have insurance and will pay you not only medical expenses, damages, lost wages but also pain and suffering and other intangible damages.  It is so important to have uninsured motorist coverage in Florida.  I can’t stress it enough.

So, if you have any questions regarding a Florida car accident or wrongful death case, insurance questions or anything like that, please call me or my partner Robert Hemphill at (407) 565-7386. We never charge for a consultation and we never charge to answer questions, please call upon us.