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NC Uninsured Underinsured Motorist Insurance now required

It's about time! Uninsured T

Effective 1/1/09, all NC auto insurance policies are required to carry Uninsured +/or Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage. It was part of NC HB 738.

What does this mean to you and me?

Whatever your current Bodily Injury and Property Damage limits are on your auto insurance, your UM/UIM coverage must now meet or exceed those limits. You're being required to protect yourself (um/uim) to the same degree that you're protecting others (liability).

If you weren't carrying um/uim before, you must carry it now. You insurance carrier will automatically add it or increase it to match your liability limits. And no, they don't need your approval or your signature. Additionally, the cost of the UM/UIM coverage will go up as well.

I think this change is long overdue since as many as 1 in 5 North Carolinians drive without insurance.

Cameron Bagherpour
Allstate Insurance Agent
150 Cornerstone Dr. #202
Cary, NC 25719
(919) 460-0606

Posted by Cameron Bagherpour ~ North Carolina Insurance on 02/13/2009 09:55 AM

Comments (9)

insurance, auto insurance, car insurance, uninsured, underinsured, hb 738

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9 Comments on NC Uninsured Underinsured Motorist Insurance now required

FEB

I agree- I hate to be a naysayer, but I have in fact been advising clients to raise their uninsured motorist coverage when I see their present coverage is lower than their Liability. In this economy and with so many people out of work, there are undoubtedly going to be an increase in uninsured motorists on the road.

MAR

•1) Lobbyists have pushed the legislators to make a change ...

•2) The insurance industry (more than likely paying the lobbyists) are benefiting by been given the green light to increase charges to help them cover for uninsured / under insured drivers who (cause or) are involved in "accidents".

•3) Currently the insurance companies have not been brought to task (by the NC regulators) on what is an acceptable increase to cover this change in the law

and my gut feeling is that the increase in premiums is WAY OUT OF BALANCE compared to the increase in claims / cases involving uninsured / under insured drivers.

•4) Odd how its occurring at the time when BIG FAT "umbrella" INSURANCE companies like AIG are in the tank losing billions (AND being bailed out by the tax payer), because of them having to cover the losses on the credit default swaps related to the selfish over leveraged high risk taking investment bankers.

•5) Just another "big business & big government" law, sticking it to the little man on the street AND ignoring the fact someone at the top acted irresponsibly & greedy and FAILED to do their job - so we the little man has to suffer the $$$ consequences.

•6) My gut feeling is that they are using the uninsured / underinsured issue as an excuse to RAMP UP insurance premiums to cover their OTHER losses...

and by the way my insurance renewal went up 26% this is an outrage - (for NO other reason than this "change" in legislation).

I also dispute your claim that as many as 1 in 5 North Carolinians drive w/o insurance - I see official figures that it is as many as 12% which is NOT 1 in 5 that would be 20%

When will you people see the REAL story behind this change.

APR

You ought to be ashamed of this legislation. Not all individuals NEED this coverage, and are required to carry it by law. This will cost me an additional $500/year for no benefit, as my family and I are covered medically under our health insurance. The only portion I actually need is to cover property damage.

Another perfect example of government over regulation. Good job NC!

MAY

I received this email comment. I have removed the sender's identity and am posting it because it is valuable to the discussion and I would like to publicly respond.

From: Robert
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: nc uninsured/underinsured motorists

If I understand what you have advocated, you want everyone else to pay for motorists that don't have insurance.
Wht not attack the problem from the source and revoke the drivers license of those drivers who don't have insurance and have stiff prison sentencing for those who break the law. We can reduce our problem by requiring people who come into our country to pay a premium for insurance and deport those that are here illegally.
To follow along with your theory, about 10% of the population have lost their jobs or are unemployed, why not raise your taxes around 30% to supplement their income so we can reduce crime by preventing them from having to steal to live.
There are a lot of people on fixed incomes that just can't afford this socialist way of leveling the playing field. The only justification for supporting this madness is that you are profiting from it by selling insurance. Be careful how you give my money away because someday I may be an advocate to give your money away.
Robert

Robert,

I understand your frustration. I'm an insurance consumer just like you and don't like coverages being forced upon me. But I (and most responsible drivers in the state) was unaffected by this law (other than the rate increase) because I already carried um/uim limits that matched my liability limits. I suspect you, too, already were carrying the required limits on your policy. In my agency, we had maybe one in fifty policies that weren't compliant.

I feel that everyone should carry liability insurance. The problem is that enforcing that law has been a complete failure. So the legislature passed this law requiring the um/uim coverage as another way to protect drivers in the state.

Over the past 12 months, my agency has seen 4 deaths and one dismemberment resulting from auto accidents. Insurance is a wonderful thing when people carry enough of it. But I can tell you first hand that when they don't, the entire family and society as a whole suffer IMMENSELY as a result - both emotionally and financially.

This is a problem that the legislature has been trying to tackle for some time. Last year, they passed a law (G.S. 21-311) that doubled and then tripled the fine for having a lapse in insurance. But again, to go from a $50 fine to $100 and $150 didn't create the desired deterrent.

I agree that the fines should be MUCH higher or like you said, revoke their driver's license. But sending people to prison isn't a better solution because we'll essentially have to raise taxes to pay for their incarceration. The problem is that no politician wants to be the bad guy and lose their next upcoming election by upsetting their constituency.

Having the legislature mandate things that we should all already be doing irritates me, too. This new law is merely the latest in a long line of laws forcing motorists to do the right thing. Think about it: 45 years ago we didn't have any 1) Seat belt law 2) DUI law 3) Insurance requirement 4) Vehicle inspection process 5) Motorcycle helmet law. All of those laws resulted in similar protests, but the laws stayed on the books and today our roads are much safer as a direct result of those laws. I'm not saying that this new law is the best solution, but until they can better enforce the insurance requirement law, this new one will do just fine.

Immigration is a separate issue that I'd love to discuss on another blog posting.

Cameron

JUN

If one obtained a NC Driver's License via an "insured" vehicle, do they loses their driving privileges of driving another car, if they don't owned/primary insurer of the automobile?

In other words, can one have a driving license but drive a car without insurance, but the car they're driving, is fully insured by someone else? family? friend? work-related? etc?

Lance,

Good question. The short answer is that yes, you can drive someone else's car (as long as it's with their permission) and THEIR insurance will cover you. NC liability insurance is very liberal - it follows the car primarily and then follows the driver (if there is no insurance on the car, but the driver has liability insurance of his/her own).

SEP

Real Estate agents need to realize that the NC State minimums do not provide enough coverage to protect you and your clients. If a client was injured in my car and I only had the minimum required coverage in NC I would be buried financially. Be careful to not put the financial well being of your business at risk by being under insured. I know some agents have asked clients to take there own cars. I am not a big fan of regulations but if it can protect the public -- crack down on the reckless before they hit me.

Jenn

Great post, Jenn. You're right about carrying adequate limits. So many people try to 'save' money by carrying low limits. In an accident, you want to have the highest limits available to protect your current assets and FUTURE EARNING POTENTIAL (garnished wages, anyone?). Think about that doctor who just killed the Raleigh ballet dancer - I bet he wishes his limits were higher, no matter what they were at the time of the accident.

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