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What Does it Mean to Stack Insurance Coverage

What does it mean to stack insurance coverage in a Louisville area injury accident under Kentucky or Indiana Law? Kentucky law allows stacking of uninsured and underinsured motorist benefits depending upon how the insurance policy is written. Indiana does not allow insurance policies to be stacked.

Simply put, stacking refers to recovering insurance polices from more than one applicable policy. In other words, you have $25,000 of uninsured motorist coverage on your Volvo, Chevrolet and your motorcycle. Stacking would say that you have $75,000 of coverage because you have 3 policies of insurance with $25,000 on each policy.

By stacking coverage from more than one car or motorcycle insurance policy the injured party can increase the total amount of his recovery, assuming the value of his claim is worth more than the just the initial insurance policy.

For example, if you own three vehicles: a Buick, a Toyota and a Ford Truck. On all three of these vehicles, you made sure you put $100,000 of underinsured motorist coverage on each automobile policy. Well stacking means that since you effectively bought three $100,000 policies of underinsured motorist coverage, you have $300,000 of underinsured motorist benefits available to you; even though you were only in one of your vehicles at the time of the accident.

Insurance companies are not fond of stacking because it ultimately means that they may have to pay out more money to settle your personal injury claim. As a result, they have now written most insurance policies so that stacking does not occur. They do this by making it so that you have one policy of insurance that covers you no matter which vehicle you are riding in at the time of the wreck.

Now, let me explain to you how this concept can work when dealing with a car wreck. I had a gentlemen approach me about a case wherein his first medical bill was $22,000 and the at-fault driver was only insured for $25,000. I looked at the automobile policy and there was no underinsured motorist coverage on his Toyota. Nevertheless, we were able to get my client’s underinsured motorist coverage from his other automobile insurance that covered his Cadillac.

Very simply, to avoid stacking, his insurance company wrote the underinsured coverage so that it would apply regardless of the vehicle he was operating. In this case, it meant we had an additional $25,000 in insurance coverage we could go after.

Is it possible to stack insurance coverage in your situation, and how would that affect the amount of money you receive? I would need to see your whole policy and see how your benefits are defined therein. As a result, I suggest you contact me at (502) 609-7657 and we discuss this matter further.

Auto Insurance Tips

1) Get rid of any deductible you have against your no-fault or PIP coverage. You CAN NOT recover that deductible from the at-fault’s insurance company, and you might have saved $30 a year for a deductible that just cost you $1,000.
2) You can use either your own car insurance, i.e. your collision coverage, or the at-fault’s drivers’ insurance to get your car fixed.
3) The declarations page for the other driver represents the maximum amount of insurance on that driver.
4) The value of a personal injury claim depends upon several factors including: the length of your medical treatment; the amount of the medical bills; the type of treatment received; the amount of damage to your vehicle; whether you have a pre-existing condition; whether you have ever had a prior personal injury claim and; the insurance carrier that we are dealing with.
5) When your car is a total loss, the insurance company owes you the fair market value of the vehicle. This means you could owe more on your vehicle than it is worth.
6) If you lose your left arm and are hit by a semi-tractor trailer, there is more than enough insurance coverage. If you suffered that same injury when hit by a 1980 Ford Pinto, hopefully you will have uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your automobile policy as the at-fault driver is probably not adequately insured.
7) If you are injured while driving a motorcycle in Kentucky, you cannot recover the first $10,000 of your medical bills or lost wages even though your motorcycle was properly insured; unless you bought option no-fault coverage.
8) If you were injured as a passenger on a motorcycle, you can recover your medical bills and lost wages from the at-fault driver. However, you are not entitled to no-fault insurance.
9) If you were severely injured while operating a motorcycle, we will probably look to your automobile insurance to see if that insurance policy might apply.
10) If you were turning left in front of a car when the wreck occurred, you will most likely be considered at fault for the wreck, no matter how fast the other guy was going, for failing to yield the right of way.
11) If you hit someone in the rear-end, you will most likely be considered at fault for following too close to the vehicle in front of you.
12) Kentucky is what is called a pure comparative fault state. This means you can recover your damages for whatever percentage, as little as 1%, you are not at fault for causing the car wreck.
13) The whole idea behind Kentucky being a no-fault state is that you should be able to get your medical bills, from a car wreck, paid for without having to show the other guy is at-fault.
14) Before purchasing a vehicle, I always suggest people look at the websites for the National Highway Safety Administration or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to see how well a vehicle does in a crash test.
15) A good personal injury lawyer has two jobs: 1) To maximize the amount he can recover for you with his right hand and; 2) to minimize the amount of deductions (i.e. costs, subrogation claims, medical bills, etc.) that have to be deducted from your personal injury settlement.

Kentucky Insurance Commission’s Consumer Publications and Links

Category: General Blog