II. Bodily Injury Liability Coverage:
Carry as much bodily injury liability coverage (usually referred to in your policy or coverage declaration page as “bodily injury liability,” or “personal injury liability” as you can reasonably afford. Not only does this protect you in case of a claim against you by someone who might be injured by the negligent operation of your vehicle, but it will permit you to purchase higher uninsured motorist limits (discussed below). In the case of this coverage, more is always better. Please keep in mind that Florida has a legal policy called the “dangerous instrumentality doctrine” and under that doctrine, a self-propelled motor vehicle is considered a dangerous instrumentality, which means that both the owner of the motor vehicle (merely based upon legal ownership), together with the negligent driver of that vehicle, are jointly liable to persons injured by the negligent operation of that vehicle.
This coverage is normally expressed as either split limit coverage ($50,000.00/$100,000.00, or, perhaps, $250,000.00/$500,000.00), or may be expressed in terms of a single overall limit coverage ($200,000.00). In split coverage situations, the first number refers to the maximum amount of money your carrier will pay to any one person who files a third party liability claim against you, and the second number refers to the maximum amount of coverage your carrier will pay for any one accident or incident, regardless of the number of claimants. Single limit coverage is, in all respects, better than split limit coverage, assuming the second number or amount of the split limit coverage is the same as the single limit coverage amount, but the policy may include other damages, such as property damage in this amount.
