StateCover Guide
Glossary

Stacking

By Editorial team, last reviewed

Quick answer

Stacking means adding together the uninsured motorist limits for each vehicle you insure to create a larger limit for one accident. Where states allow a choice, stacked coverage costs more than non-stacked coverage, which limits you to the coverage on one vehicle.

How it works

Example: you insure three cars, each with $50,000 of uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage. With stacking, up to $150,000 could be available to an injured person on your policy for one accident. Without stacking, the limit is $50,000.

Whether you can stack, and how, depends on state law and your policy. Florida's statute shows how a non-stacking option can work. If you accept it in writing:

  • the coverage on two or more vehicles is not added together for one accident,
  • if you are hurt in one of your own cars, the coverage on that car applies,
  • if you are hurt in a car that neither you nor a household family member owns, you can use the highest limit on any one of your vehicles, as excess over that car's coverage,
  • if you are not in a vehicle, for example as a pedestrian, you can choose the limit on any one vehicle.

Florida also requires non-stacking coverage to be priced at least 20% below the stacked version. Stacking rules in other states differ, so ask your insurer or state insurance department what is available where you live.

Sources

Last reviewed by the StateCover Guide editorial team. See our editorial policy. Spotted an error? Tell us.