Roughly one in five Florida drivers has no insurance. UM coverage is what stands in for the missing policy.
Call 904-383-7448Reviewed by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., Florida Bar No. 39104. Last updated .
Section 627.727, Florida Statutes, requires every Florida auto insurer to offer uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. The coverage pays the policyholder when the at-fault driver has no insurance or insufficient insurance. UM is a first-party coverage paid by your own insurer, but the carrier owes you a duty of good faith and the relationship is functionally adverse when a claim is made.
The default is "stacked" UM under section 627.727(9), meaning coverage limits are multiplied by the number of vehicles on the policy. Drivers can reject UM, or take non-stacked UM, only in writing on a state-approved form. The full statute is at syfert.com.
"No motor vehicle liability insurance policy ... shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state ... unless uninsured motor vehicle coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles..." Section 627.727(1), Florida Statutes. Read the full statute.
UM/UIM applies when the other driver has no insurance, hit-and-run drivers (subject to corroboration requirements), and underinsured drivers whose limits are less than the plaintiff's UM limit.
Florida UM stacks by default. A two-vehicle policy with $50,000 UM per vehicle yields $100,000 of stacked coverage. A four-vehicle policy yields $200,000. The premium difference is small. The recovery difference can be enormous.
To get non-stacked UM, the named insured must sign a state-approved rejection of stacking. The same is true for rejection of UM altogether. Carriers know this. Rejections that do not strictly comply with the statute's notice and form requirements are void, and the policy is presumed to include stacked UM at limits equal to the bodily injury liability limits.
This is one of the highest-leverage moves in Florida UM practice: pull the rejection form, check the date and form number, and look for defects. A void rejection turns a small claim into a large one.
Allstate Ins. Co. v. Boecher, 733 So. 2d 993 (Fla. 1999). Plaintiffs may discover information about an insurer's relationship with its experts, including the volume of business and amounts paid. The case opened a long-running door for plaintiffs to challenge carrier-favored medical reviewers. See syfert.com for current treatment.
Travelers Indem. Co. v. Wilkes Cty. Hosp. Auth., 982 So. 2d 1239 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008). Addressed UM stacking and rejection requirements.
For a current treatment-flagged list, see syfert.com/florida/statutes/0627.727.html.
Pull the declarations page on every car-wreck case in the first week. Verify UM limits, stacking status, and the existence of a valid rejection. A surprising number of "small" cases turn out to have stacked UM that nobody knew about.
UM bad faith claims under section 624.155 require a Civil Remedy Notice and a 60-day cure window. File the CRN early. The clock matters.
UM and PIP coexist. PIP pays first for medical and wage benefits regardless of fault. UM pays after liability is established and PIP is exhausted. Sequence the claim accordingly.
UM/UIM coverage under section 627.727 pays your damages when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough. Florida insurers must offer it; you can reject only in writing.
Stacking multiplies UM coverage by the number of vehicles on the policy. Section 627.727(9) makes stacking the default unless rejected in writing.
Yes. UM claims are first-party contract claims against your own insurer. The relationship is contractual, but the carrier owes a duty of good faith.
Stacked or not, rejected or not, exhausted or not. Call for a free read.
Call: 904-383-7448