(785) 267-3367
(785) 267-3367
Kansas requires insurance coverage for all vehicles operated on the road. This is to account for damages caused in accidents and to allow at least some form of protection to those injured in an accident. Some coverage is no fault such Personal Injury Protection in which your own insurance company will pay for medical treatment up to the limits of coverage in that policy. Coverage is a key to recovery in most any auto injury claim.
The main basic and required forms of coverages in the State of Kansas are as follows:
Kansas law mandates that every automobile insurance policy sold in the state must have these very small minimum coverages:
The minimal limits are not very helpful in most accidents. Fortunately, most agents correctly urge their clients to purchase more coverage. We believe here at our office that it is important to have proper Underinsured coverage. It is equally important to have adequate uninsured coverage, but the issue we see more often is not have enough insurance which is why it is important to have proper underinsurance coverage. This often referred to as UIM coverage.
For example, if you are hit by someone who only has the minimal amounts of coverage, their insurance company only has to pay $25,000 for the personal injury. It is unlikely that a person with minimal coverage has money to pay the claim (which is why they had minimum coverage). Such coverage will not compensate for a large accident. Even you had $50,000 in medical bills, that insurance company would only have to pay $25,000.
This situation can be fixed with underinsurance or UIM coverage. If you have $100,000 in UIM coverage, then you could claim against your policy $75,000 more in monies to cover the damage above the $25,000 liability coverage. You can purchase as much UIM coverage as you can afford or want to pay for in coverage. In our example above, a person with $50,000 in medical bills, likely has a claim above $100,000. We believe that your policy should have at least $500,000 in coverage. That is above the minimum requirements, but insurance companies will provide it for an increased premium. That way if you are in bad accident, you should have coverage to compensate you for medical bills, lost wages, and the pain and anguish from the injury.
This UIM coverage is in your own policy and completely in your control to protect yourself.
As mentioned above, UIM does not cover property damage. However, you can protect yourself in this regard by purchasing Collusion insurance. This will cover your vehicle for damage in accident regardless of fault. Thus, if the other party is not fault or does not have enough coverage, this type of insurance in your own policy can cover your damage subject to the terms of your policy. Also, you can purchase Comprehensive coverage. This coverage will protect you from damage from storms, fires or other forms natural disaster as defined in your policy. Again, these types of two coverages are within your control when you purchase your insurance.
The information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice or the formation of a lawyer/client relationship. The use of the Internet for communications with this law firm will not establish an attorney-client relationship and messages containing confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent.
Leave a Reply