Gainesville, FL, Aug. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bagen Law Accident Injury Lawyers, P.A. today released a new report examining uninsured motorist (UM) coverage in Florida, a protection the firm says has become one of the most important, and most misunderstood, pieces of an auto policy in the state.
Titled "Understanding Uninsured Motorist Coverage in Florida," the report breaks down how the coverage works, what it pays for, and why many drivers may already carry it without realizing what it does.
According to the report, Florida is one of the few states that does not require most drivers to carry bodily injury liability insurance. In their place, the state's no-fault system requires only $10,000 in personal injury protection (PIP) per vehicle, covering 80 percent of medical costs and 60 percent of lost wages up to that limit. For anything beyond that, injured drivers are left to pursue the at-fault driver directly, a strategy that offers little recourse when that driver has no insurance at all.
"Most people don't realize how thin Florida's insurance requirements really are until they're hit by a driver who can't pay for what happened," said Steven A. Bagen, founder of Bagen Law Accident Injury Lawyers and a board-certified specialist in Civil Trial Law. "Uninsured motorist coverage is often the only thing standing between an injured family and a stack of bills nobody planned for."
The report outlines several findings for Florida drivers, including:
- Insurers must offer UM coverage on every policy where liability coverage is offered. Drivers can only decline it by signing a specific written rejection form, meaning many carry the coverage today without ever realizing they have it.
- "Stacking" coverage across multiple insured vehicles can significantly raise the total protection available after a serious crash, though it comes at a slightly higher premium than a single, non-stacked limit.
- UM coverage can extend well beyond a policyholder's own car, often applying when someone is a passenger or a resident relative who lives with the insured.
- The coverage can pay for medical costs beyond PIP limits, lost wages, pain and suffering, and losses connected to a wrongful death, areas where PIP alone typically falls short.
"We wanted to put together something people could actually use before they're ever in a crash," Bagen said. "A lot of drivers are paying for this coverage right now without knowing it, and just as many turned it down years ago without understanding what they gave up."
The report comes as Bagen Law continues to see a steady stream of cases across North Central Florida involving uninsured and underinsured drivers, including along high-traffic corridors such as Interstate 75 through Gainesville and Ocala.
The full report is available at: https://bagenlaw.com/blog/uninsured-motorist-coverage-florida/
About Bagen Law Accident Injury Lawyers
For more than 45 years, Bagen Law Accident Injury Lawyers, P.A. has represented injured people across North Central Florida, with offices in Gainesville, Ocala, Daytona Beach, and Newberry. The firm's expert team of personal injury attorneys bring more than 150 years of combined experience to personal injury, car accident, and wrongful death cases, and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of clients.
Press Inquiries
Kyle Bagen
kyle@bagenlaw.com
(800) 800-2575
https://bagenlaw.com/
6241 NW 23rd Street
Suite 300
Gainesville, FL 32653
