If you do nothing else while visiting our web site, please take a moment to take a look at your automobile insurance policy.

Specifically, let us call your attention to two parts of it. The first part is the bodily injury protection. Usually this is a split number. For example $15,000 / $30,000. This means that any single person injured by you cannot collect more than $15,000 for a bodily injury, and any group of people cannot collect more than $30,000.

Now look at the bottom portion of your policy. There should be a section called Underinsurance or Uninsurance Protection, perhaps it is abbreviated UM. Typically, this section matches the bodily injury protection at the top of the policy.

Here is how you should think about these two types of coverage. The bodily injury protection at the top of the policy is the protection you are providing to a person hurt by the vehicle you own. The UM coverage is the protection that you provide to yourself and those in your vehicle when hurt by someone else. Think of it as your "he has less than me" insurance.

For example, suppose that you have a minimum limits policy. It is a $15,000 /$30,000 BI protection policy. Your UM coverage is also $15,000 / $30,000. You are in an auto accident where you are hit head on by a person who has no insurance. The accident is their fault. They have $0, you have $15,000 / $30,000 in BI coverage. You can collect up to $15,000 in UM coverage because they had "less than you." in primary liability insurance.

In the same example, you are hit head on, but now the other person has $15,000 / $30,000 in BI protection. You have the same amount of protection, so you could collect up to $15,000 - but from his insurance. In this example you are equal, UM coverage does not come in to play.

Now imagine that you are in the same accident. The other driver has $15,000 / $30,000 BI coverage, but you have $100,000 / $300,000 in BI coverage. You UM coverage is the statutory minimum which is $15,000 / $30,000. Your injuries are worth more than $15,000. What happens? In this example, you could collect no more than $15,000 from his insurance company. Why? Here he has less BI coverage than you, so your UM coverage does come in to play, but because it is reduced by the amount of insurance the other person carries, you can only collect $15,000 from the person who injured you.

In the last example, assume the same accident. The other driver has $15,000 / $30,000 in BI and you have $100,000 / $300,000 in BI, but you also have increased your UM coverage to $100,000 / $300,000. Now when you have an injury that is worth more than $15,000, your UM insurance comes in to play here as well. You can collect the first $15,000 from the person who harmed you, and the next $100,000 from your own UM coverage if your injury so warrants.

Studies have shown that in most instances, the statutory minimum is the most expensive portion of an insurance policy. To add protection may not be as expensive as you think. You can't protect yourself more than you protect the other person, but the most important people to protect are yourself and your loved ones.

Contact your insurance agent as soon as possible. Look into increasing your BI coverage to a larger amount, perhaps switching to a single limit policy. But never increase the BI protection without increasing your UM coverage. Your family will thank you for it.