Most people don’t understand or care about their car insurance until a Utah car accident occurs.  Here are the basics of Utah car insurance.

Which Car Insurance Company Should I Buy From?

Just because the car insurance advertises on TV doesn’t make them good (Same thing goes for attorneys.)  Some companies are large, national car insurance companies.  Other car insurance carriers are smaller, regional.  Some have a reputation amongst plaintiff’s lawyers of not paying insurance claims or having poor claims service.

What is Required by Utah Law in a Utah Car Policy of Insurance?

There are several required aspects of all Utah car insurance policies.  If the person who hit you has a California issued car policy of insurance there can be difference.  Here are the most common Utah terms.

Bodily injury liability: $25,000 per person and $65,000 per accident.  Can’ be waived.

Property damage liability: $15,000 per accident.  Can’ be waived.

Personal injury protection: $3,000 per accident.  Can be waived. Double super bad idea.

Uninsured motorist: $25,000 per person.  $65,000 per accident.  Can be waived.  Double super bad idea.

Underinsured motorist: $25,000 per person.  $65,000 per accident.  Can be waived in writing. Double super bad idea.

Minimum Liability Coverage $25,000 per person, up to $65,000 per occurrence.  You cannot get lower liability insurance limits.  You can’t get $15,000 per person coverage.  $25,000/$65,000 is the lowest coverage you can get in Utah.

Example.  25/65 coverage means the following.  Up to $25,000 per person, but not greater than $65,000 regardless of how many people were involved in the car accident.  If you are rear-ended on I-15, near Provo Center Street exit, breaking several bones and you are the only person in the car, the at-fault insurance carrier will pay a maximum $25,000 policy limits for your injuries.

Example.  25/65 coverage means the following.  You and your entire five person family are rear-ended on I-15 near Orem Center exit.  Two of your children are killed in the collision.  The at-fault insurance company would pay their maximum $65,000 “per occurrence” policy limit.

Liability insurance coverers situations where you are driving and hurt someone else.  Whether a pedestrian, hit another car or injury your passengers in a one-car rollover.

If you are hurt by someone else, their liability limits cover your injuries.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage (“UIM”) Underinsured motorist coverage kicks in when the person who hurt you didn’t have enough insurance to cover your injuries.  That person’s liability limits were too low to cover your injuries, so your own undersinsured motorist coverage picks up the difference.  The Utah state UIM minimum you can get is 25/65.

Example.  You are hurt in a t-bone intersection accident on Orem State Street.  You are not at-fault for the accident. You break several ribs and herniate your low back causing your permanent injuries.  The at-fault party’s insurance has $25,000/$65,000 per person, per occurrent liability policy limits.  The at-fault insurance company pays out its maximum $25,000 per person limit to you, but that doesn’t even cover your medical bills.  Your own underinsured motorist coverage would kick in to make your whole and pay any additional damages from the car accident above and beyond the $25,000 liability carrier limits.

The rule is that you must exhaust all liability carrier policy limits before you can ask your own first party underinsured policy benefits to kick in and pay.

Uninsured Motorist Coverages (“UM”).  UM or Uninsured motorist coverage is where the person that hurt you, the person who hit you with their car had no insurance or was a hit-and-run driver. The hit-and-run driver situation has two variants under Utah law.  The hit N run with contact the person flees the scene.  Or the hit N run car accident without contact between the two or more colliding cars.  The latter requires a higher evidence burden.  The Utah state UM minimum you can get is 25/65.  It coverages both bodily injury and property damages caused by uninsured people.

Hit-and-Run Uninsured Coverages with Contact.  Uninsured motorist coverage covers situations where you are hit by a phantom driver.  Where the other driver who rear-ended you, or t-boned you flees the scene and can never be found by the police. The classic hit-and-run driver.  When this occurs you own uninsured motorist coverage kicks in to cover your losses.  

Example.  You are rear-ended on University Avenue in Provo, Utah.  The person then jets from the scene before police arrive, never to be found again.  Your own uninsured coverage would kick in to cover you physical injuries and property damage.

Hit-and-Run Uninsured Coverages without Contact.  Evidence burdens. Clear and convincing burden of proof.   When you are involved in a car accident, but there is not physical contact between the two cars, this is called a hit-and-run, no contact situation.

Example.  You are driving safely on Orem State Street when suddenly another vehicle violently swerves into your vehicle.  Luckily you see it coming and swerve out of the way to avoid contact with that driver, but instead end up hitting a telephone pole.

Higher Evidence Burden for Hit-and-Run No Contact UM Cases.  When you are involved in a no-contact hit-and-run car accident a higher evidence burden applies to proving your case.  You must prove your case by Clear and Convincing evidence other than solely the testimonial evidence of you.

No-Insurance.  At-fault party didn’t have insurance, the insurance lapsed or they had fake insurance cards.   Here when the other person didn’t have insurance because it lapsed or such, your own insurance kicks in to provide money compensation for your injuries.

Personal Injury Protection Benefits.   Like UM and UIM, personal injury protection benefits can be waived in writing, but is a double super bad idea. PIP benefits are some of the cheapest heath insurance benefits you can buy and are triggered by one of the most common injury producing events—car accidents.

Even if you have really good private health care insurance, you should up your PIP medical pay benefits to at-least $10,000, rather than the Utah state minimum $3,000.

Medical pay benefits $3,000 state minimum for all reasonable and necessary medical bills related to the car accident.

Wage Loss.   “The lesser of $250 per week or 85% of any loss of gross income and loss of earning capacity per person from inability to work, for a maximum of 52 consecutive weeks after the loss, except that this benefit need not be paid for the first three days of disability, unless the disability continues for longer than two consecutive weeks after the date of injury.”  See Utah Code Ann 31A-22-307.  You will need a doctor’s inability to work note and income statements to capture lost wages.

Death Benefits.  Compensation on account of death of a person, payable to the person’s heirs, in the total of $3,000.

Funeral Benefits.   Funeral, burial, or cremation benefits not to exceed a total of $1,500 per person.

Loss of Household Services.  “A special damage allowance not exceeding $20 per day for a maximum of 365 days, for services actually rendered or expenses reasonably incurred for services that, but for the injury, the injured person would have performed for the injured person’s household, except that this benefit need not be paid for the first three days after the date of injury unless the person’s inability to perform these services continues for more than two consecutive weeks.”  You will need a doctor’s note indicating your inability to do these household services to qualify.

Collision and Comprehensive. Collision/comprehensive insurance benefits pays for damages to your car caused by another vehicle, an object, a deer, an animal or a rollover.  Collision is not required under Utah law.  Comprehensive benefits protects against damage to your own vehicle from perils like theft, fire, wind, hail or vandalism.  The older your car, the less likely you will have comprehensive.

Rental Car Coverage.  Another purely optional benefit attached to your own car insurance.  Rental car coverage attempts to cover your rental car expenses when your car is damaged in accident, regardless of whose fault it is.

Can You Fire Your Car Insurance During The Middle Of A Claim?  Yes.

Sometimes you don’t feel like your own car insurance is treating your well while in the middle of a car insurance claim.  People ask, “Can I fire my own insurance company, will they still cover me for this pending claim?”  Yes.  They will.

Often your car insurance’s true colors will come out when you are in the middle of a car insurance injury claim.  Sometimes they will deny coverage.  Other times they might cut off PIP benefits early, or give you a MOPED for a rental car when you used to driving a 15 passenger van for a family of eight.

How Much Car Insurance Should I Get?  The Utah State Minimum 25/65 or 100/300?

PIP Coverages. 

As to personal injury protection benefits—get a lot.  Get at least $10,000 in medical pay PIP benefits if your car insurance carrier offers it.  It is cheap.   Not every car insurance company offers $50,000 PIP medical pay benefits.

Liability Coverage. 

How much bodily injury liability coverage to get is a conversation for it’s own blog post.  Here are some basics: 

(A).  If you are a college student with no assets, no money, no job, probable the Utah State minimum $25,000/$65,000 bodily injury limits will be just fine.

(B).  If you own a home with at-least $350,000 in free and clear equity, you should consider at-least a $250,000 bodily injury policy, or a policy high enough to cover all your unexempt assess under Utah law.

(c).  If you are a millionaire who owns multiple properties or something like that, you will need a million dollars plus, unless you are going self-insured style.

Only an in-depth sit down about your assets and liabilities with your estate planning attorney or insurance agent will determine what level of car insurance to have.  An estate planning attorney will understanding Utah’s Exemptions Act and how judgments are entered and collected upon to fully advise you on how much car insurance to get.