What if my injuries cost more than the insurance will pay?

What happens if damages exceed insurance policy limits?

When your damages exceed the at-fault driver's insurance policy limits, the limit is not a cap on your damages: for uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, Florida law counts that driver's vehicle as uninsured. The rest may come from your own UM coverage, from other at-fault parties, or from the at-fault person directly.

• Your own UM generally covers the difference, if any, between your damages and the total available to you from sources such as personal injury protection (PIP) and the at-fault driver's liability insurance, up to your UM limit. It pays for pain and suffering only if your injury meets one of the injury thresholds in section 627.737(2).
• Whether you have UM: a Florida auto policy that includes bodily injury liability coverage must include UM, unless a named insured rejected it in writing for everyone insured under the policy. A policy with only PIP and property damage coverage has no such requirement.
• The at-fault person: a recorded court judgment may become a lien on that person's real property, but Florida protects some property, such as a homestead.

The page on serious injury lawyers in Melbourne has more on serious injury claims.

What does Florida law say about underinsured drivers?

Florida does not require bodily injury coverage to register a typical car

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) says that to register a vehicle with at least four wheels, you must show proof of personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability (PDL) insurance, at least $10,000 of each. Its list requires bodily injury liability coverage, which "pays for injury or death to others," only for taxis ($125,000 per person, $250,000 per occurrence), though a driver may need an SR22 filing certifying that coverage to meet reinstatement requirements of Florida's Financial Responsibility Law. So the driver who hit you may carry little or no bodily injury coverage.

Your UM coverage and its limits

Under section 627.727, Florida Statutes, UM is "over and above, but shall not duplicate," the benefits available to you from workers' compensation, PIP, disability benefits, auto medical expense coverage, motor vehicle liability insurance, or the at-fault owner or driver (or anyone else liable with them). It covers "the difference, if any," between the total of those benefits and the damages sustained, up to the coverage limit, and the amount of UM coverage available is not reduced by a setoff (a subtraction) against any other coverage, including liability insurance.

The underinsured rule is section 627.727(3)(b): a vehicle counts as uninsured for UM when its bodily injury limits are "less than the total damages sustained by the person legally entitled to recover damages."

UM and pain and suffering

UM does not pay "damages in tort for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience" unless the injury meets a threshold in section 627.737(2), the same thresholds that apply when suing the owner or driver of a PIP-insured vehicle for those damages. Under section 627.737, Florida Statutes, those are significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability (other than scarring or disfigurement), significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death. More is in Can I sue the other driver after a Florida car accident if I have PIP?

Each at-fault party answers for its own share

Under section 768.81, Florida Statutes, in a negligence case "the court shall enter judgment against each party liable on the basis of such party's percentage of fault and not on the basis of the doctrine of joint and several liability." So each at-fault party's own insurance may be a separate source of payment.

Who else may pay when the insurance runs out?

Your own PIP, after a car crash

Required PIP has a limit of $10,000 in medical and disability benefits and $5,000 in death benefits under section 627.736, Florida Statutes. It pays up to $10,000 for covered care if a physician, dentist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse (as listed in the law) determined you had an emergency medical condition, and is limited to $2,500 if a listed provider determines you did not. If no physician, dentist, physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse has found that you had an emergency medical condition, PIP may pay only up to $2,500. When you can also sue is covered in Can I sue the other driver after a Florida car accident if I have PIP?

The owner of a borrowed car

Under section 324.021, Florida Statutes, an owner who is a natural person and lends a vehicle to someone driving with permission is responsible for that driving only up to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per incident for bodily injury, plus up to $500,000 more in "economic damages" if the driver is uninsured or has less than $500,000 in combined coverage. That extra amount is reduced by what is actually recovered from the driver and the driver's insurance, and the limits do not affect the owner's responsibility for the owner's own negligence. The limits do not apply to an owner of vehicles used for commercial activity in the owner's ordinary course of business, other than a rental company that rents or leases motor vehicles.

A government vehicle or agency

If a city, county or other government agency or its driver was at fault, read Can I sue the city, county or a government driver in Florida?

Serious injuries and future care

• What is a life care plan, and how does it affect what I can recover?
• Can I make a claim for a brain injury or concussion after an accident in Florida?
• How much is my personal injury case worth?

More questions about going over the policy limits

Can I sue for more than the policy limit?

Generally, yes. Florida's UM law speaks of limits "less than the total damages" and defines total damages as "the full amount of damages determined to have been sustained by the injured party, regardless of the amount of underinsured motorist coverage." Your lawsuit is generally against the at-fault person, because under section 627.4136, Florida Statutes, if you are not insured under that person's liability policy, you cannot sue the insurer until you first get a settlement or verdict against a person insured under the policy, for a claim the policy covers.

How do I find out how much insurance the other driver has?

Ask in writing. Under section 627.4137, Florida Statutes, within 30 days each insurer that does or may provide liability coverage must give you a sworn statement for each known policy, including excess or umbrella insurance: the insurer's name, each insured's name, the coverage limits, any policy or coverage defense it reasonably believes it has, and a copy of the policy.

Does an umbrella policy cover my injury claim?

An umbrella or excess policy is extra liability insurance some people buy on top of their auto or home policy. Whether one covers your claim depends on its terms. The sworn statement must cover each known policy, "including excess or umbrella insurance," with a copy, so you can find out.

Can I collect the rest from the person who hurt me?

Possibly. Under section 55.10, Florida Statutes, a judgment becomes a lien (a legal claim) on real property in a Florida county when a certified copy is recorded there with the lienholder's address, for an initial 10 years if first recorded on or after July 1, 1994.

But Article X, section 4 of the Florida Constitution protects an individual's homestead and $1,000 of personal property from forced sale, and no judgment becomes a lien on them, except for taxes and assessments, debts for buying, improving, or repairing the property, and labor performed on it. The homestead is up to 160 acres of contiguous land outside a city, or one-half acre of contiguous land inside a city, where the protection is limited to the residence of the owner or the owner's family.

Under section 222.11, Florida Statutes, if a head of family (someone providing more than half the support for a child or other dependent) has disposable earnings of $750 a week or less, all of them are exempt from garnishment (a court process that takes money from a paycheck). If a head of family's disposable earnings are more than $750 a week, they cannot be garnished unless the person agreed otherwise in writing, and even then no more than the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act allows; for anyone else, garnishment cannot exceed that federal limit.

What should I do if my injuries exceed the limits?

• Check your own policy. Your declarations page (the policy's summary page) shows whether you have UM and its limit.
• Ask in writing for the other side's insurance. Use the sworn disclosure request described above.
• Give notice before you settle for less. If you agree to settle with the at-fault driver's liability insurer and its insured, and the settlement would not fully pay your injury claim, written notice of the proposed settlement must go by certified or registered mail to every underinsured motorist insurer that covers you. That insurer has 30 days after receiving it to approve the settlement or keep its subrogation rights (its right to seek repayment of what it paid from the at-fault driver and the driver's liability insurer). If it approves, or does not respond as required within the 30 days, you may sign a full release for the liability insurer and its insured and finish the settlement without harming your UM claim. If it refuses permission to settle in order to keep that right, it must pay you the amount of the liability insurer's written offer within 30 days after receiving the notice. Either way, the UM insurer gets a credit against your total damages equal to the at-fault driver's full liability limits, even if the settlement or its payment was for less, and the credit does not reduce the UM coverage available to you. Do not sign a release before this step is handled.
• Keep records. Keep every bill, medical record, and doctor's note about the care you need now and later.

Watch the deadline. Under section 95.11, Florida Statutes, a lawsuit for an injury caused by negligence must be filed within two years. That two-year rule applies only to claims that arose after the 2023 change took effect on March 24, 2023, and under section 768.28, Florida Statutes, a negligence lawsuit against a Florida state or local government agency must be filed within 4 years after the claim arises, except medical malpractice and wrongful death claims, which follow the deadlines in section 95.11(5). Before you can sue a government agency, a written claim generally must be presented within 3 years after the claim arises (2 years for wrongful death) and then denied, or left without a final decision for the time the law allows. Older claims follow different rules, explained in How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in Florida?

Talk to a Melbourne serious injury lawyer

Douglas R. Beam, P.A. is a law firm in Melbourne, Florida. A lawyer can review your own policy, the other side's sworn insurance disclosure, and other possible sources of payment. You can talk it through in a free consultation.

Call (321) 723-6591 or use the contact form on this site. Our office is at 25 West New Haven Avenue, Suite C, Melbourne, FL 32901.

Sources

• Section 627.727, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 627.4137, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 627.4136, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 627.736, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 627.737, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 768.81, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 324.021, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 768.28, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 55.10, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 222.11, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Article X, section 4, Florida Constitution
• Florida Insurance Requirements (FLHSMV)
• Section 95.11, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Chapter 2023-15, Laws of Florida