I know I have mentioned this before, but here we go again! Have you noticed the amount of traffic in the Treasure Valley? Me too. And I have also noticed that there are a ton of distracted drivers using cell phones, doing their make-up, or maybe a dog or cat crawling free in the driver’s lap. I’m not sure why people worry about self-driving cars! But that is another subject.
In light of this, let’s chat about your car insurance!
If you are anything like me, the last thing you want to do or think about is car insurance. But bear with me…
As all of you know, we do not participate in health insurance plans. We have done this for a variety of reasons. Most of which we have detailed elsewhere.
But what many of you don’t know is that we do bill automobile insurance in case you have an accident.
Why? Because we would rather see you cared for well, by us, than have you get yanked around somewhere else. And because we don’t have a contract with any carriers, we are free to treat you as your injuries demand.
As disturbing as it is to see cats running free in cars, we are also seeing people way under insured, not just replacement costs for vehicles, but also for their medical injuries.
Consider these recent cases in our office.
Young couple broadsided on a side street. Car totaled. Ambulance ride to hospital, 3 CAT scans, multiple hours in the ER, and guess what, this alone used nearly all of the woman’s, medical allowance leaving her with very little in actual treatment. She had 10K in coverage.
A young mother with three sons under four, gets hit in a gas station by a guy backing out. She was able to drive to quick care and get examined. She only has 4k per person, which will be plenty for the boys, but likely not for her.
And finally, one lady was hit broadside by another driver that ran a stop sign. All four airbags kept her from going to the hospital. But the 2K coverage she has for medical won’t last long enough to get her back to normal.
Here is how to get the most out of your auto insurance. Make sure that you have what is known as PIP, personal injury protection. Some insurance carriers call it MedPay. Both are the same. PIP and MedPay are dollars set aside for paying medical expenses, regardless of who is at fault. Most states require a minimum, but Idaho does not. It is an excellent idea to cover you and your loved ones.
This addition to your policy is not expensive and is well worth it. Based on what we are seeing, I would recommend at least 35K in benefits for injuries. Hospitals and ambulances are expensive. The difference between 10K and 35K PIP/MedPay coverage is minimal.
Call your carrier and ask them about your coverage and then bump it up. You will thank me later!
And because all these cases will likely exceed their benefits, they have had to retain legal counsel to get what is needed to complete their care without out-of-pocket expenses. Things just got messy and they didn’t need to.
Make the call.
Cheers,
ks
Actual car from an actual patient: Mother with four small children - all pain-free & back to normal functionality