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Car Insurance Tips For You!

Let's face it, we all want to be protected by our car insurance. The bad news is no single car insurance coverage takes care of everything you need in the event of a crash. The good news is you can be protected with some very basic information.
First, you need to know the car insurance lingo.
PIP - stands for personal injury protection. Pays your medical bills and lost wages (stops at $10,000) no matter who is at fault. IT IS REQUIRED IN FLORIDA.
PD - stands for property damage. If you run into someone and its your fault - it pays to fix their car. Minimum limit is $10,000 and IT IS REQUIRED IN FLORIDA.

No other coverages are required in Florida at this time!

Now, we have the question - what pays to fix my car if I was at fault? This would be your collision coverage - if you purchased this. What pays to fix my car if a tree falls on it? This would be your comprehensive coverage - if you purchased this. What pays for my injuries and any losses above the $10,000 paid by PIP. This would be your Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists coverage - if you purchased it. So, in short, please don't fall into the FULL COVERAGE COMFORT ZONE. I call it a comfort zone because people think they have FULL COVERAGE and they are okay so they forget about their car insurance altogether. But, when the crash happens, and then its too late, they learn for the first time there is no such thing as full coverage.

For more detailed information on this topic please download my book for free at our website - The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Automobile Insurance in Florida. As a bonus, in the back of the book you will also find several great tips on how you can save money when you are buying your car insurance and still get the coverage you need.

Take care and God Bless!
Douglas B. Dykes, Esq.
ddykes@syfrett-dykes.com
(850) 785-3400

What is Your Plan?

I want to talk to you today about something very important and that is what is your plan in the event of an automobile accident. These happen on a regular basis and the problem is we don’t take the time to stop and think about when it happens to us what are we going to do?

So I want to encourage you today to think about what am I going to do when this happens to me, and planning is what prevents problems. In life we know that things are going to happen, we know that unfortunately people are going to get sick so we go out and buy health insurance. We know that unfortunately we are going to have a car breakdown so we go out and get routine maintenance on our cars. Well in life we also know that automobile accidents are going to happen. It’s just going to happen; it is a fact of life.

I started out with some of the power players, not what Doug Dykes told to me but think about what some of the people that are a whole lot smarter than me have said – Benjamin Franklin tells us that an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. That is what we are here about today is some knowledge and some planning for you. He also tells us by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. Absolutely true, absolutely true.

So what we are going to do today is we are going to game plan for each and every one of us so that if and when our time comes and we have a car accident which won’t be because we did something wrong, it will be because unfortunately someone else wasn’t paying attention, they were talking on the cell phone, they were looking other ways, they were driving like I drive and a wreck has occurred. Final quote to get us going Paul Bear Bryant – “Have a plan, follow the plan and you will be surprised how successful you can be, most people don’t have a plan that is why it is easy to be most folks.”

So let’s keep going this morning. Before you’re in the car accident you need to plan. There are some things that you need to do. You can’t wait until after it has happened and then say I am going to fix it now. You have to do a couple of things ahead of time. What you have to do ahead of time is go ahead and realize that unfortunately the other party, their plan does not include paying your bills, and their plan does not include paying your medical bills. That is not on their agenda so you need to realize that and go ahead and take the steps upfront.

The number one thing I want you to do is review your auto insurance policy. I brought mine today I am going to pass it around. If you need help reviewing yours I will be glad to speak with you. Paula Harris from Bars Insurance will be glad to help you with that. Basically there is a coverage called, UM/UIM coverage that stands for under insured / under insurance motor coverage. If you don’t have it you need it. If you don’t have it you need it; If you don’t have it you need it. That’s how serious I am about this. Always buy it, always make it stackable. If you want to know more about automobile insurance just go to our website I have got the book on The Ultimate Consumer Guide – Automobile Insurance. It is there for you, it has got great information.

We don’t have time to go into all the details today, but on the UM coverage that is the first thing you have got to do to get your plan in order. The first thing you have to do. I am going to pass around, I brought today my own UM policy, my own automobile insurance policy and I also brought with me what the Florida legislator says about this type of coverage. I think it is very significant. It says whenever you don’t buy it you have to sign something that reads as follows – “You are electing not to purchase certain valuable coverage which protects you and your family, or you are purchasing uninsured motorist limits less than your liability limits when you sign this form. Please read carefully.”

That’s our warning folks. They are telling us stop and get this coverage. They are urging us, they are encouraging us, and this comes from Florida statute 627.727. Now one of the things I want you to do when you call your insurance agent, if they say ‘Well you know, that’s not really that important, and some people if you have got health insurance you don’t need it, and if you have got this you don’t need it’ you tell them ‘No madam, Doug Dykes and the Florida legislator said I need to buy this coverage and I am going to go ahead and buy it. So I am going to go ahead and pass that around for you take a look at it. There is something on the second side of the flyer that we are going to talk about here in a second as we get ready to close.

Life tip – when you buy that insurance always buy it like you are going to use it. Always buy it like you’re going to use it. Don’t buy it just to get a tag and just to get title insurance for your car so you can drive – buy it like you might need it.

Next thing, planning ahead prevents problems and financial losses – don’t plan on the person that hits you to take care of your problem. When you can’t get to work that is going to be your problem not their problem. When your car is in the shop for three weeks that is your problem; when you have medical bills that is your problem. Don’t plan on their insurance company to take care of your problems. This is about you and individual responsibility and you taking the steps now to make sure you are protected and so is your family.

We just heard a great presentation about the need for planning for college, go ahead and start planning now. If you take the steps and do the right thing whenever your child or grandchild is 18 years old college is in the bank. It’s paid for, it’s done but you have got to start. You have got to have a plan.

As we just mentioned the car crash is your problem, it may have been caused by somebody else but now it is your problem, so we have already got step one in the bank. We brought uninsured motorist coverage, and my policy is passing around, 35 cents a day is what I pay for $250,000 of uninsured motorist coverage, 35 cents a day. Is my family and my career worth 35 cents a day? Is your family and your career worth 35 cents a day? Absolutely, positively.
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The insurance company, do they have a plan? Absolutely, they have a plan. It’s not a bad plan; it’s a good plan. Here is their plan - collect premiums and minimize losses. It’s not bad. They got to do something else; they want to increase the difference between the two. They want more in the middle okay and they want to do… the realization is not a bad plan; it’s not a bad plan.

We all work hard every day; we want to keep more of what we earn. That is just good common sense. Don’t blame the insurance company. They are simply using a smart business plan; a smart business plan.

Today is your opportunity for you to go ahead and get a plan in order for yourself and for your family so that you have got everything in order if and when the day comes you are prepared. Businesses need documentation, and they want solid reasons to spend money. Every business is like that. If I go out to Kevin Viven Photography and say “Look Kevin, you need to put me on a retainer to help me to help you whenever you have problems” he’s going to want to know why, why, why.

Insurance companies are like businesses they want to know why, they want documentation, they want good reasons. What we go ahead with this plan we are getting fixed with and ready to unfold for is go ahead and realize that upfront and make sure that we have our plan in place. Your plan starts today and it starts right now.

Your insurance policy, what you see passing around is called a declarations page and that is where you see the uninsured motorist coverage. You have got to make sure you have that because without that you are taking a big chance that the other driver took the time to buy the adequate kind of coverage to take care of you and your family. Under Florida law, the other driver is not required to carry something that is called bodily injury liability coverage. That is the coverage that comes in and helps you in the event you have a broken arm and can’t work for three months. That is the coverage that helps you in the event that your child was going to be a model now they have got a scar on their face and they are not going to be a model anymore.

Bodily injury coverage is what helps you and the Florida legislator, at this point doesn’t require the average motorist to carry it so the way you protect yourself is buying all the UM coverage you can. In the event of an accident make sure the police are called and a report is filed. There is so much critical information that is obtained on the scene, by the authorities that you are going to need in the event that you are going to take the steps necessary to really protect yourself and your family. Seek medical treatment if you are injured. It sounds simple but you need to go ahead and take that step and get checked out, you need to take that step and get checked out.

If you have got further questions by all means call me. I am happy to answer them. Just because you call me that doesn’t mean I am your lawyer; just because you called me that doesn’t mean that I have got to handle everything for you. It just means that I am there to help you because I want you to have a plan. I want you to have a good plan, a plan that works.

Along with calling me don’t give a taped statement to the insurance company, don’t do it – wait and talk with an attorney that is on your side first and figure out what the insurance company’s plan is and then try and help yourself. Go ask any criminal offence attorney you know and say “What is one of the number one things that happens to people that causes them more problems after something bad goes wrong than anything else?” and they will tell you the simple Miranda Rules. You have the right to remain silent. They blow that rule and those statements stay with them from then on, and they haunt them and they haunt them. Unfortunately your taped statement can haunt you after an auto accident. Don’t give one until you know what the questions are going to be and you have had time to think about what your answers should be.

The next thing is just some simple photographs, pictures are worth a thousand words still holds true, your injuries, the vehicle, the scene, and then finally there is another book for you called The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Personal Injury Cases also available on our website syfrettdykes.com. Start reading that, get that knowledge. Get that knowledge.

So here is your plan summarized, five points; your policy, the police, the physician, the phone and photos – and what you can do by doing that is you have got a plan, you are ready to go so in the event that this comes into your life, because it is going to come in a millisecond. You aren’t going to be expecting it and it is going to rock your world unfortunately, so what you can do is go ahead and take those steps today to be prepared.

I want to mention one thing before I close, also passing around the folder is something that deals with windstorm mitigation, and windstorm mitigation really has nothing to do with my practice area, nothing at all, but in Florida the legislator passed a law that said you’re entitled to windstorm credits in the event that your house gets inspected by the proper person, and those credits in essence means money in your pockets. Well, you get that knowledge and you say that is wonderful. The knowledge you get today you say that’s wonderful, but until you take action on that knowledge it is not going to help you at all. The article is passed around about windstorm credits was something that come into me and I sat there and I put in on the shelf, and I didn´t do anything about it and I came back to it and my mom said I got this in the paper and I did this and it really helped me out a lot.

I said if it is good enough for my mom then it is good enough for me. So you will see in the folder that is being passed around I finally took action and yesterday I got two checks in the mail, one for $477 and one for $17, and it made my day. It’s because I took action, because I took action and that is what I encourage you to do today. Take action; put your future and safety not in jeopardy, by having a simple plan; the policy, the police, the physician, the phone, the photos.

Homeowner’s Wind Mitigation Discounts

At Florida Statute § 627.711 the Florida Legislature passed a law that requires insurance companies to issue discounts if your home has certain features that complies with certain recent building code requirements. Rather than me bore you with all the details of the law, I have created a simple easy checklist for you to follow to save YOU money.

1. Go to http://www.fldfs.com/ICA/Adv-Mitigation.asp where you will find all of the details to explain what the law is designed to do and information from the Office of the Insurance Consumer Advocate.
2. Go to http://www.mysafefloridahome.com/ where you will find the form you need have completed to turn into your insurance agent to obtain your savings. The form is called the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form. The form is also known as OIR-B1-1802. You have to follow the links and you will see it. The form can only be completed by certain licensed professionals
3. Details are spelled out for you directly in 627.711 – which you will find at https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleNo.asp?ID=69O-170.017
4. Pull out your Homeowner’s Insurance Policy and get ready to call your agent.

Save on Homeowners Insurance with Wind Mitigation Discounts

Download a free PDF about how you can save money by implementing hurricane-resistant features in your home.

Practice Makes Perfect

You've probably heard that statement many times before. Waiting for a deposition to start recently that old adage became even clearer to me. A deposition is where the attorneys go and talk to a witness prior to trial to learn what the witness is going to say at trial. The witness is under oath so his story can't change later without sacrificing his/her credibility. As we were waiting to start, I heard the Defense attorney make an interesting statement. His statement was it is "always easier to tear down than it is to build." In today's legal world that couldn't be any more accurate. For the injured person to make a recovery and receive justice after their accident, they literally have to build their case. In building their case, they have the burden of producing evidence evidence to support each and every element of their claim and that evidence has to be strong enough and persuasive enough to convince a jury that the injured party is entitled to justice.

What does the Defense/Insurance company have to do? Tear down the injured party's case. Find any weaknesses. Exploit the weaknesses. Attack the weakness. Dig. Dig. Then dig some more. Create confusion, uncertainty and doubt in the mind of the juror's and the foundation of the case is crumbling. Net result - the insurance company pays less or nothing on the claims and makes larger profits. The injured party does not receive justice or they are forced to settle their claim at a substantial discount. Don't let this happen to you! Get good solid information about how injury cases are handled and what you really need to do to protect yourself and your rights. Don't go it alone. The insurance company has been practicing and while they are not perfect at defeating claims - they are very, very good at it. Good luck with your case and if I can answer any questions call me at (850) 785-3400. Take care and God Bless! Doug

Why Do I Still Need Uninsured Motorist Coverage When I Have Health Insurance?

I know the title is a mouthfull but it is a good question and a common question that I ran into the other day. I am always telling everyone to buy uninsured motorist coverage and to buy all they can. If the other driver is at fault, uninsured motorist coverage can help you pay medical bills, recover past and future lost wages, recover for your past and future pain and suffering, recover future medical bills. It does so much more than health insurance coverage do that you MUST have it on your automobile insurance. The concept that all uninsured motorist coverage does is pay medical bills is not the complete picture.

Still not convinced? Here is the more encouragement. Call your auto insurance agent today and ask - Do you have uninsured motorist coverage on your personal vehicle? If the answer is not YES, then I will be shocked. Still not convinced? What happens if you lose your job and you no longer have health insurance coverage? Then, you pay for your future medical bills - not your health insurance plan. Finally, as stated don't forget UM can also help with lost wages in the past and in the future. Again, this is something health insurance will not do. If you have any questions about this coverage or any question about autombile insurnce then all you have to do is give me a call at 850-785-3400. Good luck and God Bless! Doug