My name is Griff Tonkin. I'm one of the partners here at the Arthofer & Tonkin Law Offices. We're a personal injury law firm practicing all over the state of California, but with our office based in Northern California in the town of Redding.
Today I want to talk to you about insurance. It's really important if you've been injured through the fault of someone else that there's resources for you to recover against, to compensate you for all that's happened. Oftentimes those resources come in the form of insurance policies.
The law requires, for example, when you drive that you have insurance on your vehicle. That's to make sure that if you make a driving mistake or another motorist makes a driving mistake, there's a pool of resources to compensate you for your property damage, the repairs to your vehicle, your wage loss, medical bills, anything else that flowed from that accident. We want to have coverage for you.
Well, when talking about auto insurance, sometimes I'll have clients come in and I'm talking to them about what their insurance is. And that's an important inquiry for your personal injury lawyer to make. Sometimes you're involved in accidents that are caused by drivers who have less insurance than you.
In that instance, your own insurance can kick in and make up the difference up to the total limit of your policy. That's called an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim. And sometimes the other driver doesn't have any insurance at all, and then you can recover again under an uninsured motorist claim with your own insurance.
So it's important that you have really good insurance and good limits. Sometimes I'll have clients come in and I'll inquire about their insurance, and they say, oh, don't worry, I have full coverage. And I don't like hearing that because I feel bad for them.
Because full coverage doesn't mean what it sounds like it means. Full coverage just means you're covered if you make a driving mistake or if the other driver makes a driving mistake. If you don't have full coverage, for example, you don't have coverage on your vehicle's repairs if you're the one at fault.
But if you do have full coverage, you do have coverage for your vehicle repairs if you've made the driving mistake. So just because you have full coverage doesn't mean you have adequate policy limits. That's the real key.
So full coverage doesn't necessarily mean that you're properly protected. What's really important is that you look at your insurance policy and you make sure you have appropriate insurance limits to protect you. I really wouldn't suggest that anybody drive around in the state of California with the minimum limits that are presently in effect.
It's December of 2024 right now, and the minimum limits under the state's scheme presently is $15,000 per person. That's not enough to cover you for an emergency room and an ambulance ride. It's just not enough insurance.
Beginning in 2025, those limits go up to $30,000 per person. But even that's too small. So make sure you have greater limits than those.
Talk to your insurance professional about what are appropriate limits considering your needs for protection, considering your assets, your age, value of your vehicle, but up those limits. I promise you'll be surprised at how inexpensive it is. I told a client recently that I'll bet you she spends more on one morning coffee drink at a fancy coffee house like Starbucks or Dutch Brothers than the cost of upper insurance.
Well, I was right. She got back to me and she let me know that for about $7 a month, she could increase her policy limits up to $100,000 per person. And her fancy drink that she liked from Dutch Brothers was $8.25. So for less than a cup of coffee or an energy drink or whatever your caffeine fix is, you can have better insurance coverage.
So don't get lulled in. If you have full coverage, you may not have good coverage. You may not have adequate coverage.
Make sure your policy limits are appropriate to protect you in the event you make a mistake, but even more importantly, in the event someone else makes a mistake, you're injured because they have no insurance or less insurance. I'm Griff Tonkin. We give free consultations on personal injury matters here at the Arthofer & Tonkin Law Offices.
If you've been injured and you think it's the fault of someone else, call our office today so we can talk more about your case.
