The Consumer Awareness Guide to Buying Car Insurance in Georgia

Wilson presents scenarios to show how quickly the minimum auto insurance coverage can run out in the case of a serious injury. For example, he describes a case in which a 37-year-old woman on a motorcycle was critically injured in a collision with a driver who was talking on a cell phone. The at-fault driver had Georgia minimum insurance coverage and very few assets, so was essentially "judgment-proof." His insurance coverage wasn't enough to cover even one week of the injured motorcyclist's hospitalization. The plaintiff in this case thought she had "full coverage," but her $25,000 in uninsured motorist coverage wasn't enough to cover the series of MRIs she needed once she got out of the hospital. She suffered further set-backs because of lost wages, but had no legal recourse since the defendant had no assets. If she'd had better UM/UIM coverage, it would have helped her.

Wilson recommends readers buy as much as they can afford- and suggests $300,000. He gives rate quotes from a few different insurance companies to show that the significant increase in coverage over the legal minimum does not cost significantly more in premiums.