Poll: What is your total liability coverage?

How much total auto liability coverage do you have, including umbrella coverage?

  • $0-$0.99 million

    Votes: 21 12.8%
  • $1 - $2.99 million

    Votes: 100 61.0%
  • $3 - $4.99 million

    Votes: 20 12.2%
  • $5 - $9.99 million

    Votes: 18 11.0%
  • $10 million or more

    Votes: 5 3.0%

  • Total voters
    164
  • Poll closed .
I have to admit that I haven't read all the posts in this thread. Consequently, I apologize if I'm repeating a post made by another person.

Our insurance agent suggested we consider an umbrella policy that would be larger than the assets somebody would try to garner if they feel we are liable for their injuries. In our state, the required liability coverage on vehicle policies is much less than an ambulance chaser would find appealing. Consequently, said ambulance chaser, would go after personal assets such as brokerage accounts, house, other personal possessions.

In our case it's more affordable to add an umbrella policy that covers all liabilities than to increase the liability coverage on our vehicles, even though the vehicles are the likely reason that a liability would occur.

Confused? So was I. It boils down to have as much coverage as you think is needed so a potential lawsuit only goes after your insurance company (your umbrella coverage), not your personal assets.

Is this a good strategy? Who knows? I hope I never find myself in a position to know if I've made the right decision.
 
My experience was not adversial. They just told me to send all my medical bills and eventually they spit out an offer. It was higher than I expected for "pain and suffering", but still very significantly below the policy max, so I figured I might as well see what a lawyer can do. The insurance company immediately agreed that the uninsured driver was 100% at fault and that my UM BI coverage applied. They also were able to subrogate a fair amount of my $1k deductible on the total loss collision claim. The total loss payout was generous compared to any equivalent vehicles that I saw for sale. They of course "lowballed" my UM payout. They agreed to pay policy max after I lawyered up. What's crazy to me is if they had even offered me, say, 80% of my policy max, they would have saved big $$$ and maybe I would have just taken it, as with lawyer fees and medical expenses, I barely received over 60% of the policy max. Now maybe it's my fault for not better describing the lifestyle consequences of my injuries and not knowing how to write like a lawyer, but IDK. I spent about a year on the claim before I lawyered up and got an initial offer. Most of the waiting game was all the medical facilities and providers providing records, allegedly. It took another year after the lawyer took over. I definitely think the hassle was worth the premium. I got lucky that the insurance company didn't try to find their own medical expert to dispute the findings and that it didn't get dragged out in court as the lawyer would have taken a larger cut.
So was the lawyer's cut a stated percentage of the total that they paid you or of the increase in what they paid you over their offer at the time that you engaged the lawyer?
 
I had to look at my policy, which was under $1M. A few years back, I discussed increasing the liability with my agent. He advised against increasing it.
 
So was the lawyer's cut a stated percentage of the total that they paid you or of the increase in what they paid you over their offer at the time that you engaged the lawyer?
They took 1/3 of the settlement after case expenses (which was paying a doctor for an independent medical evaluation and like $10 for photocopies and postage). They guaranteed I would at least receive the original settlement offer so that I wouldn't lose out on any $$ for hiring a lawyer. They obviously completely blew it out of the water. If I ever experience something like that again, I am just calling the lawyer. FIWW I searched google reviews, i did not want somebody blowing $$$ on billboards. After case was settled, he confirmed he had no billboards and relies on word of mouth and organic searches.

I forgot to mention that my health insurance subrogated everything that they paid out, which was a solid chunk of $$$, but I would have had to pay them back out of the original settlement, too.
 
They took 1/3 of the settlement after case expenses (which was paying a doctor for an independent medical evaluation and like $10 for photocopies and postage). They guaranteed I would at least receive the original settlement offer so that I wouldn't lose out on any $$ for hiring a lawyer. They obviously completely blew it out of the water. If I ever experience something like that again, I am just calling the lawyer. FIWW I searched google reviews, i did not want somebody blowing $$$ on billboards. After case was settled, he confirmed he had no billboards and relies on word of mouth and organic searches.

I forgot to mention that my health insurance subrogated everything that they paid out, which was a solid chunk of $$$, but I would have had to pay them back out of the original settlement, too.
The subrogation is an important point that many people don't realize. Insurance companies get their money back out of the settlement/verdict. In some cases, once the lawyer gets his money off the top and the medical insurance company gets reimbursed, there isn't much money left for the plaintiff. In my case, my lawyer did a good job of getting the insurance company to take a much lower percentage, allowing me to come away with a couple of bucks.
 
The subrogation is an important point that many people don't realize. Insurance companies get their money back out of the settlement/verdict. In some cases, once the lawyer gets his money off the top and the medical insurance company gets reimbursed, there isn't much money left for the plaintiff. In my case, my lawyer did a good job of getting the insurance company to take a much lower percentage, allowing me to come away with a couple of bucks.
My lawyer tried to do that and seemed confident that he could, but the federal government does not negotiate. If you are insured by FEHB, it specifically says in the brochure that you won't try to prevent them from collecting in this scenario.

If anything, I'm just kicking myself for not having a higher UM BI policy. Not sure if having a higher limit still would have paid a policy max, but you never know.
 
My lawyer tried to do that and seemed confident that he could, but the federal government does not negotiate. If you are insured by FEHB, it specifically says in the brochure that you won't try to prevent them from collecting in this scenario.

If anything, I'm just kicking myself for not having a higher UM BI policy. Not sure if having a higher limit still would have paid a policy max, but you never know.
Yup, not uncommon. There are cases where a jury trial gave million dollar judgements and the plaintiffs received nothing.

In my case, once I heard the defendant wanted to settle at policy limits ($100K+25K UM), I had a VERY frank conversation with my lawyer. I told him I wasn't going to be the odd man out and if it looked that way, I'd just as soon go to trial. Basically, if the lawyer got his 40% (plus expenses) and the medical insurance company got their $60K back, I'd end up with squat (maybe $15K). Fortunately, he got the insurance company to only accept $12K. I think he told them he'd only collected the $25K UM (which was true at the time he contacted them).
 
This stuff is very head-ache inducing. I applaud you all who have suffered through the process of dealing with subrogation and UM. Normally, subrogation happens to "someone else," usually another insurance company, not you. Ouch.
 
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