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.
