I’ve written to you before about the change in the Michigan No-Fault Statute wherein you can now elect limited medical coverage as opposed to the unlimited coverage we have always had. Again, I strongly urge you to elect the unlimited medical coverage!
Besides that choice, there are other aspects of your coverage that are worth discussing.
First, when selecting collision coverage, you can select “Regular” or “Broad.” With regular collision, you pay your chosen deductible for all accidents. If you have broad collision, your insurance company will waive your chosen deductible if you are not at fault in the accident. If you currently have broad coverage, you may want to consider downgrading to regular collision, as it is usually a much lower premium. And truthfully, you may not even be getting any greater benefit for the higher premium. Let’s take a closer look:
If you are at fault in the accident, you must pay the deductible no matter which coverage you have. So, the more expensive broad collision doesn’t help you at all.
If you are not at fault, your deductible will be waived with broad collision. But due to Michigan’s mini-tort law, if you are not at fault and you are required to pay your deductible with regular collision, you can collect up to $3,000 for your deductible from the at-fault driver’s insurer. So here, other than the minor hassle of having to present a claim to the at-fault driver’s insurance carrier, you get your deductible reimbursed with regular collision. Again, the more expensive broad collision doesn’t help you at all.
The only situation where you benefit with broad collision is if the at-fault driver is uninsured, or if you are the victim of a hit-and-run. Sure it can happen, but is that risk worth the extra premium to upgrade from regular to broad collision?
Another important coverage to examine is to make sure you have the highest available uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. This coverage is very inexpensive and will protect you and your family if you are injured by an uninsured or underinsured driver. If you have $500,000 of liability coverage for others in case you injure them, you shouldn’t only have $100,000 to protect you from them! Call me for a further explanation or discussion.
In fact, please call me and set up a time where you can share your insurance declaration sheet with me so we can discuss your coverage to make sure you are properly protected, and of course, see if there are any ways for you to safely save some money without putting your family at risk!
