Short answer
Stacked UM coverage multiplies your per-person limit by the number of vehicles on the policy and lets the named insured and resident relatives combine UM coverage from separate household policies; $100,000 of stacked UM on three cars is $300,000. Non-stacked coverage pays one limit, once. Florida treats UM as stacked unless you signed a separate state-approved form accepting non-stacked coverage in exchange for a premium reduction of at least 20 percent. If the insurer cannot produce that signed form, the coverage is stacked.
Answered by Kweku Darfoor, Esq., founder of The Injury Advocates, a Plantation-based personal injury law firm serving Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, and South Florida. General information, not legal advice about your situation.
Uninsured motorist coverage is priced per vehicle. When a policy covers more than one car, the question is whether the UM limits for each car add together when one person is injured. Under stacked coverage they do. A family with $100,000 per person of UM on three vehicles has $300,000 available to a Class I insured, the named insured or a resident relative, no matter which car they were in, or whether they were in a car at all. Class I insureds may also combine stacked coverage across separate policies in the same household, so a spouse’s separate policy or a parent’s policy can add to the total.
The Florida Supreme Court explained the logic in Florida Farm Bureau v. Hurtado (1991): Class I insureds are covered wherever they are when an uninsured driver hurts them, and they paid a premium for each vehicle, so each premium buys a layer of protection.
Section 627.727 lets insurers sell non-stacked coverage at a discount of at least 20 percent off the UM premium, but only if the named insured signs a state-approved form making an informed, knowing acceptance of the limitation. Under non-stacked coverage:
The at-fault driver in a Florida crash often has no bodily injury coverage or a $10,000 policy. For a surgery, a fractured vertebra, or a brain injury, the difference between $100,000 of non-stacked coverage and $300,000 of stacked coverage is the difference between a partial recovery and a full one. Carriers know this, and adjusters sometimes describe coverage as non-stacked because the premium was quoted that way or because the agent checked a box. The law requires more: a separate, signed, state-approved election by the named insured. We ask for the form in every case and compare it to the premium history, because a discount that was never given is evidence that no valid election was made.
Related: Florida uninsured motorist lawyer · the UM rejection form · a family member’s UM coverage
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The declarations page usually says “stacked” or “non-stacked” next to the UM line. If it does not, ask the insurer for the signed non-stacking election form. If there is no valid form, Florida law treats the coverage as stacked.
Rarely for a household with more than one vehicle. The required discount is at least 20 percent of the UM premium, often a few dollars a month, in exchange for giving up the multiplied limits and the ability to combine household policies after a serious crash.
No. Class II insureds, such as non-relative passengers, are covered only by the UM limits on the vehicle they were occupying, even under a stacked policy.
