What Your Maryland Auto Insurance Policy Is Not Telling You and Why It Matters Before an Accident Happens
Most Maryland drivers have auto insurance. Very few of them understand what it actually covers. Attorney Joebeth Bowers of Bowers Law has spent close to twelve years practicing in Elkton and has seen firsthand what happens when an injured client sits across the desk and learns for the first time that their policy cannot do what they needed it to do. That moment, Attorney Bowers says, is the one he has spent years trying to prevent. This week on the Monday Morning Lawyer podcast, he announced a free auto insurance review service, a new book, and an April contest designed to get Maryland drivers to take a hard look at their coverage before it is too late.
Why Most Maryland Drivers Are Underprotected Without Knowing It
The problem is not that people are choosing bad coverage on purpose. It is that most people sign up for a policy, pay the bill every month, and never look at the details again. When a car accident happens and they finally need to use it, they discover gaps they did not know were there. By that point, there is often nothing an attorney can do to change the limits that were in place at the time of the accident.
Attorney Bowers wrote and published a book on this subject back in 2014 specifically because he kept watching the same situation play out with injured clients. The book walked readers through the different types of coverage on a standard Maryland auto policy, including lesser-known protections like personal injury protection, underinsured motorist coverage, and gap insurance for vehicles that are still being financed. A fully updated edition is expected to launch around June 1st, and it will include current information, recent changes to Maryland law, and for the first time, an actual declarations page from Attorney Bowers’ own policy so readers can see exactly what comprehensive coverage looks like in practice.
What a Free Auto Insurance Review Actually Covers
Attorney Bowers has offered to review auto insurance policies for free on nearly every episode of the Monday Morning Lawyer podcast. The service is not a sales pitch. He is not a licensed insurance agent and does not sell policies. The purpose is simply to make sure that drivers understand what they have and what they are missing before an accident forces the conversation.
The review focuses on the declarations page, which is the summary document that lists every coverage type and limit on a policy. Drivers who submit their declarations page receive the results in one of two ways. The first option is a short consultation by Zoom or Google Meet, typically no more than ten minutes, where Attorney Bowers walks through the policy and answers any questions. The second option is a color-coded report card that lays out each coverage in green, yellow, or red depending on whether it is adequate, worth a second look, or a genuine concern. That report card can also be forwarded directly to an existing insurance agent, who can use it to generate pricing on any recommended changes in a matter of minutes.
Why Asking for More Coverage Sometimes Costs Less
One of the more counterintuitive points attorney Jobeth Bowers made on this episode is that increasing coverage does not always mean increasing premiums. He shared an example from his Baltimore City office roughly a decade ago, when a client called his insurance agent from across Attorney Bowers’ desk to ask about adding personal injury protection coverage back onto his policy after having waived it. The cost to add the standard $2,500 in PIP coverage was going to be approximately $75 per year. When the client asked what it would cost to go directly to $5,000 instead, the agent came back with a number of $55 per year. More coverage, lower price.
Attorney Bowers was careful to note that this kind of pricing quirk does not happen often and varies by carrier. But the broader point is that most drivers have never asked these questions at all, and asking them costs nothing. Understanding what your policy can do and what it would cost to strengthen it is information worth having long before you ever need to use it.
The April Contest at MarylandInsuranceBook.com
Throughout the month of April, attorney Jobeth Bowers is running a contest tied directly to the free insurance review service. Starting April 1st, Maryland drivers can visit marylandinsurancebook.com to upload their declarations page and have Attorney Bowers complete a review at no charge. Every person who submits a policy during the month of April will receive a free copy of the new book when it is published and will be entered into a drawing for a prize package that currently includes an autographed and authenticated Zay Flowers Ravens jersey and tickets to an upcoming Ravens regular season home game, with additional prizes expected to be announced throughout the month.
There is also a charitable component. For every policy submitted during April, Bowers Law will donate $5 to a local nonprofit that will be announced on next week’s episode. The drawing winner and full prize announcement will be made on the podcast in early May.
What Every Maryland Driver Should Do Before the End of April
The contest is a reason to do something you should already be doing. Most people do not know what their policy covers, and the time to find out is not the moment after an accident when the coverage cannot be changed. Submitting a declarations page for a free review takes a few minutes and costs nothing.
To participate, visit marylandinsurancebook.com, upload your declarations page, and choose how you want to receive the results. To catch this episode in full and browse past topics covering accidents, insurance, and injury law, visit the podcast page at bowerslawmd.com or find it linked at the top of the firm’s website.
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