[Transcript]
Hi, my name is Kenneth Berger, and I made this video to help folks understand how stacking insurance policies work under South Carolina Law. So what does it mean to stack insurance policies? Think about it this way, however many cars you have at home, or your family has at home, those cars have insurance policies. And if those cars have uninsured motorist coverage, or they have underinsured motorist coverage, then you can actually reach back in certain situations and stack the amount of underinsured motorist coverage on each of those vehicles at home, or stack each uninsured motorist policy that you have at home again. Either one of your vehicles, or a family member's vehicles, can be stacked to the total amount of insurance between all of them. So let's go with an easy example, let's say someone has $100,000 in medical bills, and the person who calls the wreck only has state minimum limits which in South Carolina, is $25,000. The person who hits you has $25,000 you've got $100,000 in insurance. What you're able to do is then stack your underinsured policies based on how much underinsured coverage you have on each vehicle, and how many vehicles you have in total.
So let's say you had three cars between you and the family members who lived with you at home, and each of those cars had $25,000 in underinsured coverage, you take the 25 vehicle you were in, and the $25,000 underinsured on the two at-home vehicles for a total of $75,000, plus the $25,000 the at-fault driver had, for a total of $100,000. Again, that would help cover your medical bills in a situation where there's a bad wreck, and that's also an extra $75,000 that you can recover by stacking. Now you've got to know that before you can stack you're uninsured, and that's when someone who doesn't have insurance hits you, or you're underinsured, and that's where someone hits you and they've got insurance but not enough. Before you can start stacking those policies, you first have to use up all of the available liability coverage. So again if the person who hits you has let's say $500,000 or a million dollars in liability coverage, if the value of your case isn't more than $500,000 or a million dollars, you won't have to worry about stacking because there'll be plenty of liability coverage.
Most South Carolina Drivers Who Cause Serious Accidents are Uninsured or Underinsured
Regrettably, a lot of times the drivers in South Carolina who cause the worst wrecks usually have the least amount of insurance or no insurance at all. That's why stacking can be so important. Now there are a lot of nuances and some complexity when it comes to stacking. We could make an entire 45-minute video on this topic. There are even seminars that lawyers go to understand stacking. What you need to know is we've been handling issues with stacking for a long time, all the different nuances, and all the different laws that apply to help us understand, and help explain to you the maximum amount that can be recovered. From at-home policies is something we've done with a heck of a lot of clients, and we're glad to walk you through it as well. As I tell people all the time, you might not even need a lawyer if it's a situation where again, the injuries are really bad, and the insurance companies are obviously going to pay you the policy limits. You may not need a lawyer, but it does help to at least consult with an experienced South Carolina car accident lawyer to understand how much insurance coverage was available to you, and to make sure that your result is full and fair.
If you have any other questions, you can reach us right here on the website through a live chat feature below, or the contact form. You can also call us for a free consultation. We've helped a lot of people in situations like this who have stacking questions, and we'd of course be glad to answer your questions and help you as well.