Why You Need Better Car Insurance

I don’t work for the insurance industry. Sometimes, I don’t like the insurance industry. We disagree about a lot of things, like to what extent my clients are hurt because of the negligence of their drivers, and what they should pay for it.

But even with its problems, car insurance is important. It is important for all drivers to have insurance to pay claims if they make a mistake–run a red light, fail to see a pedestrian in a crosswalk, or make a left-hand turn before it is really safe to do so. I want insurance so that if I hurt someone, they can recover without having to pay for their own medical bills. It’s just personal responsibility–I’m responsible for the damage I cause (it’s “you break it, you buy it” applied to the road).

There is at least one other reason to have good insurance. The other drivers. Take this excerpt from the The MAIF Agent Blog:

Every U.S. driver is required to have a driver’s license and proof of auto insurance; but what can you do if your driving record is so damaged that no insurance company will touch you? Or if your premium would be so high that you’d never be able to pay it? Driving without insurance is not an option. In those cases, if you are a Maryland resident, you are probably eligible for insurance through MAIF.

You think that’s fun? Try this closing “call to action”:

MAIF is specifically designed to cover only drivers with poor driving records, such as repeated traffic violations, DUIs, or prior accidents, which private insurance companies refuse to cover. If you are one of these drivers, and you live and drive in Maryland, then MAIF auto insurance may be the right choice for you!

So why do you need insurance? Because MAIF is out there giving the lowest possible insurance coverage to the worst possible drivers. Are you a regular drunk who can’t keep his key out of the ignition? We’ll insure you. Do you disobey every traffic rule and regulation? We’ll insure you. Have all of the other insurance companies turned you down because you are too risky? We’ll insure you.

I understand the argument–in order to be a productive citizen, most of us need to drive, and it’s better to allow these awful drivers to be on the road with insurance than to risk them driving without insurance. But these are the people that put our lives at risk every day when we are driving our kids to school, doing errands on the weekends, and driving to work every day. It’s just crazy.

So here’s what I want you to do: call up your Maryland insurance agent. Tell him or her that you are concerned about what will happen to you and your family if you get into a car accident with a uninsured or minimally-insured Maryland driver. Tell your insurance agent you want to have a good amount of coverage to pay for your medical bills. My recommendation? Get at least $300,000 in UM/UIM. Preferably more.

If you have questions about your insurance coverage, give us a call. We’ll go through your policy and explain what everything is. I bet your insurance agent never did that.

(Credit for the picture in this blog post goes to MAIF–it’s on their home page. I imagine it is an uninsurable driver who is happy because MAIF will let her get back on the road, where she can cause more mayhem.)