Why EVERY Georgia Driver Should Have a Copy of their Insurance Policy

It should come as no surprise that Georgia requires that motor vehicles be insured in the event of accident or injury.  The minimum policy requirements for any policy issued in the State of Georgia demand that there is coverage for liability in the amount of at least “$25,000 for bodily injury or death to one person in any one accident” and “$50,000 because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident, and $25,000 because of injury to or destruction of property [1].”   This falls under the mandatory provisions of the motor vehicle liability policy.

These are, of course, the miminums that are required by law.  Each Georgia vehicle owner should determine for himself or herself just what coverage is necessary to best protect him or her in the event of a serious collision.  For instance, in Georgia, it is not required that a vehicle owner purchase uninsured motorist coverage.  This is insurance that protects the vehicle’s driver and occupants in the event of a collision with a driver who does not have any insurance.  Although this other driver is violating the law by driving an uninsured vehicle, that will not provide any relief for injuries if the person injured does not have his own protection, known as UM coverage.

The purpose of this article is to stress the importance of knowing what your particular insurance policy says and what coverage it affords you.  Motor Vehicle Insurance is governed by contract law.  Your policy is a contract between you and the insurer.  Despite how easy many insurance companies may make it to buy their insurance, taking shortcuts can be very detrimental to your interests in the event of a collision.  Many insurance companies advertise on television and the radio that they can get insurance rates and applications in just 10 or 15 minutes.  The problem with this “convenience” approach is that in Georgia, the person buying car insurance has a duty to read the insurance contract as issued and to evaluate for himself or herself whether it provides for the needed coverage.

This duty is not something any Georgia driver should take lightly.  This means that you should not simply rely on what some representative whose first and last name you may not know or ever document tells you as you make a phone call to purchase insurance.  Many companies have applications online, making it easy to purchase insurance in just a few clicks.   Keep in mind that you are purchasing insurance in case the worst happens.  Nobody ever wants to take advantage of their coverage or to get their money’s worth, so to speak.

If you are ever to really get your money’s worth out of any insurance policy, be it an automobile policy or even a homeowner’s or life insurance policy, it means that something really bad has happened.  So, the best approach to this is to put the time in to research not just rates for automobile insurance, but customer service.  In addition, you should always, always, read your policy .  By reading a policy, you should be able to see and understand what exclusions are provided for in the policy.  If you are not covered by the policy if you were to tow a boat behind your vehicle, you would want to know this before you take your boat to the lake.

This may sound really obvious, but think about how many times a day or week we scroll through websites and click that we have read and accepted certain terms in a given contractual agreement.  Anyone who has an iTunes account with Apple knows that there are rather routine updates to the program requiring consent to purchase music or other media.  How many of us have ever truly read one of these agreements?  This is just one example of many, many such agreements.

Automobile insurance should be handled with more care and attention than these other agreements, although it may be presented with the same sort of ease or convenience.  Many people find it appalling, but I often have to give clients terrible news that their policies do not provide the type of coverage they expected they paid for.  A number of these folks believe they have “full coverage,” though few people will ever provide the same definition as to exactly what that means.

The most frequent disappointment does come when advising that a client does not have uninsured motorist coverage.  Another type of coverage that many drivers are unclear as to whether or not they have is medpay.  These are things that you want to know before you sign the policy.  As I said, it is not enough just to get a declarations page, or the page that gives you the list of what your coverage is and how much your premiums and deductibles will be.  Go the extra step and ask for a copy of the policy.  Read the policy and ask questions if you have them.  The time to do this is before you purchase the insurance.  I can say that I have never had a client get a positive surprise regarding their coverage, limits, or exclusions.