UNDERINSURED policy limits CALIFORNIA

Pontiac1972

New Member
4
Hi thank you so much for this forum!

I am in a situation where the at-fault party had the CA minimum coverage of 5,000 property and 15,000 bodily injury. The other party's coverage also happens to match the 5,000/15,000 un/underinsured coverage that I have. I am being told by my insurance adjuster:

"Unfortunately, your Uninsured Motorist coverage is 15,000.00 so we would not be able to consider an Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury claim."

So is that correct that my 15,000 Underinsured Motorist coverage will not apply to pay the difference in my bodily injury costs because it matches the amount of the other parties coverage? I have heard that if I had less coverage than the other party that there would be no coverage. But I assumed that if my bodily injury coverage matched theirs that it would pay up to 15,000 in the deficit of expenses.
 
When you assume.....Did you ever speak with your agent and ask that question? If your limits were higher than the person who hit you, your policy would pay the difference between his coverage (underinsured) and your coverage, Ie: his is 5000, yours is 50,000. Yours would pay up to 45K AFTER you received 5000 from his.
 
I have raised the question with the adjuster and I pasted the response in my original message and I came on here to verify... Thanks
 
I have raised the question with the adjuster and I pasted the response in my original message and I came on here to verify... Thanks
I was hit on my motorcycle. The van driver had Virginia minimum limits 25/50/25. I had 100/300/100. His policy paid me 25K, mine paid me 75K
 
The difference between your limits and much better protection would be peanuts per 6 month term. What are your liability limits?
 
I've always found it interesting that a "progessive" consumer-oriented state like California permits liability limits this low. Allegedly it's to enable poor people to afford insurance, but it doesn't help the victims of their negligence.

In my state, UM works the way you're being told. If I buy minimum UM limits, then the only way I'll ever collect is if the other negligent party has NO liability insurance. If they have minimum or higher UM limits, my minimum UM limits pay me nothing. Given that, in most states, a huge number of drivers have either no or minimum liability limits, in states whose UM laws work like those in my states, it's rather foolish to buy minimum UM limits.
 
Yes, your adjuster is correct in this instance. In California they do get to offset dollar for dollar any liability benefit provided up to your Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) policy limit. In other states, like Nevada and Washington your UMBI coverage is an excess or floating layer of coverage provided. You may want to consider getting higher limits on your auto policy for the future. Your UMBI limits cannot be higher then your liability limits. The average price of a vehicle is close to 30K now so you should be looking at 100/300/50K limits (with matching UMBI limits) as a way of protecting yourself down the road.
 
Yes, your adjuster is correct in this instance. In California they do get to offset dollar for dollar any liability benefit provided up to your Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) policy limit. In other states, like Nevada and Washington your UMBI coverage is an excess or floating layer of coverage provided. You may want to consider getting higher limits on your auto policy for the future. Your UMBI limits cannot be higher then your liability limits. The average price of a vehicle is close to 30K now so you should be looking at 100/300/50K limits (with matching UMBI limits) as a way of protecting yourself down the road.

There are quite a few states where your UM/UIM limit is the maximum recovery, including the liability limit of the negligent party. In other words, your UM/UIM coverage is excess over their liability limit, with your total coverage from their and your policy being your UM/UIM limit. For that reason, if your UM/UIM limit matches the state minimum liability limit, you will never recover a penny under your UM/UIM if the negligent driver has liability coverage and that's probably 80-95% of all accidents.

Anyone with liability limits as low as yours is courting financial disaster if YOU negligently cause serious injuries or death. You could be paying off a claim like that for the next 20 years. The more liability insurance you buy, the cheaper it is per $100 of coverage.
 
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