JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville military veteran reached out to the News4JAX I-TEAM after his car was hit by a suspect involved in a police chase. He has auto insurance, but it turns out, he was missing important coverage that’s now costing him thousands of dollars.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it was chasing a stolen vehicle last week, but during that pursuit, the suspect hit Matthew Huhn’s car, leaving his front tire banged up and unable to drive.
Huhn was in the Navy for 10 years and was stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. He left the Navy and returned to the Jacksonville area only a few months ago. On Jan. 24, JSO conducted a PIT maneuver on a stolen, black compact car that police say was driven by suspect Joshua Burnett. Police reports show Burnett hit innocent drivers, including Huhn.
“There were three vehicles. There was a woman next to me. I was given the insurance information for the vehicle that was stolen and even the other woman’s,” Huhn explained.
Huhn said he learned from his insurance company that there was no valid insurance on the stolen car that hit his 2012 Nissan Murano, and because Huhn doesn’t have collision coverage on his auto insurance policy, his insurance company won’t cover repairs to his car.
“All in all right now, I’m out a week of work and almost $500 in just, you know, the (tow) yard and the towing, and it’s not even fixed yet,” he said.
Things haven’t been easy for Huhn. He says his service dogs can help him with his PTSD, but the insurance he selected can’t help him with the thousands of dollars he could be losing.
Because of that, Huhn’s mother started a GoFundMe page to help her son pay for the damage to his vehicle, explaining he can’t do his job because the work that he does requires him to have his own car.
“Bad lesson learned,” Huhn said. “A hard way to learn the lesson.”
Insurance experts tell the I-TEAM, if you drive in Florida, while not required by law, you should consider collision coverage based on the odds of getting into a crash with someone who is uninsured.
According to data from the Insurance Research Council, Florida is sixth in the country in terms of uninsured drivers. The organization says 20.4% of drivers in Florida have no auto coverage.
Brightway Insurance Agent Matt Carlucci Jr. says, on top of that, 50% of drivers in the state have inadequate coverage on their personal car or truck.
“So, for that reason, I recommend you always carry collision coverage on your car and comprehensive coverage and also uninsured motorist,” said Carlucci. “Uninsured motorist will cover you if you get hit by somebody who either A) has no insurance at all or B) doesn’t have enough insurance to pay for your medical bills.”
Carlucci says most Floridians don’t realize that collision insurance is relatively inexpensive in our state. He says the average cost for collision coverage in Florida is between $150 to $200 per year. That means it’s about $8 to $16 extra per month.
According to insurance experts, that’s a relatively small price to pay when roughly 1 in 5 Florida drivers don’t have any insurance, and nationwide, 1 in 8 don’t. It’s something we all may end up paying for, too. Industry experts say Florida drivers have experienced above-average increases in their auto insurance bills because so many drivers on our roads are uninsured.
“With no vehicle, I can’t get to my — my son’s in Orange Park, my other son’s in Keystone,” said Huhn. “It feels like everything’s stacked against me.”
Huhn doesn’t blame police officers for doing their job. He blames the suspect who hit him and himself for not knowing he needed to have collision insurance to cover him in case he was hit by an uninsured driver.