Roughly one in five Florida drivers has no insurance. UM coverage is what stands in. Stacking, written rejection, and the dec-page review every wreck case needs.
Reviewed by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., Florida Bar No. 39104. Last updated .
Florida UM coverage under section 627.727, Florida Statutes, pays the policyholder's damages when the at-fault driver has no insurance or insufficient insurance. The coverage is mandatory-offer, with rejection only in writing on a state-approved form. Stacking is the default; non-stacking requires a separate written rejection.
Florida does not require bodily injury liability coverage on most private passenger vehicles. The state minimums are PIP and property damage liability. Many drivers never carry BIL. Many more carry only the lowest BIL the lender will accept. Roughly one in five Florida drivers carries no insurance at all.
When you are hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver, your own UM coverage is the only meaningful source of recovery for serious injuries. Get the dec page on day one of the case.
Florida insurers must offer UM coverage in equal limits to the bodily injury liability coverage on the policy. The policyholder may reject UM, but only in writing on a form approved by the Office of Insurance Regulation. A defective or missing rejection means the policy is presumed to include UM at limits equal to BIL.
If the policy covers more than one vehicle, UM coverage stacks by default. Section 627.727(9). A two-vehicle policy with $50,000 UM per vehicle yields $100,000 of stacked coverage. A four-vehicle policy yields $200,000.
To get non-stacked UM, the named insured must sign a state-approved rejection of stacking. Defective stacking rejections, like defective coverage rejections, are void. The default in such cases is full stacked coverage.
The single highest-leverage move in any Florida car wreck case is to pull the policyholder's declarations page on day one. Verify:
A surprising number of "small" cases have stacked UM that nobody knew about. The carrier will not volunteer the information.
UM is a first-party contract claim against your own insurer, but the carrier owes a duty of good faith. Section 624.155, Florida Statutes, governs first-party bad faith. The Civil Remedy Notice is a prerequisite. The carrier has 60 days to cure. After cure expires, bad faith is in play.
UM covers crashes caused by drivers who flee. The carrier may demand corroboration: an independent witness, physical contact between vehicles, or both, depending on policy terms. Without corroboration, the "phantom vehicle" claim can be denied.
PIP pays first. UM pays after liability is established and PIP is exhausted. Health insurance may pay continuing medical expenses, subject to subrogation against any UM recovery. Medicare and Medicaid liens have separate negotiation frameworks. A clean UM recovery requires lien resolution at the back end.