Stacked vs. Unstacked UM/UIM Coverage in Alabama

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

Stacked coverage adds the uninsured and underinsured motorist limits of each covered vehicle on a policy; unstacked coverage pays only the limit for one vehicle. In Alabama, one policy can stack at most three coverages.

What stacking means

Most auto policies list a UM/UIM limit for each vehicle they cover. If you are hurt by a driver with no insurance or too little, unstacked coverage lets you collect only one limit. Stacked coverage lets you add the limits for the other covered vehicles, so the ceiling rises with every vehicle. Our Alabama UM/UIM stacking calculator shows the difference for your own numbers.

The Alabama ceiling: primary plus two

Ala. Code 32-7-23(c) limits recovery under any one contract of automobile insurance to the primary coverage plus the additional coverage provided for additional vehicles, but not more than two additional coverages within that contract. That is the most a single policy can stack, however many vehicles it lists.

A worked example

Suppose your policy carries $50,000 of UM/UIM per person and covers three vehicles. Unstacked, the most you can collect is $50,000. Stacked, the ceiling is $150,000. An Alabama injury firm gives the same arithmetic with a $100,000 limit on three vehicles producing $300,000 of available coverage. If the policy covered a fourth vehicle, the ceiling would stay at three coverages.

Stacking raises the ceiling, not the payout

UM/UIM pays only for damages that the at-fault driver's coverage does not. Under 32-7-23(b)(4), a vehicle is also treated as uninsured when the sum of all liability limits available to you is less than the damages you are legally entitled to recover. If your losses are $60,000 and the at-fault driver's insurer pays $25,000, the gap is $35,000, and a $50,000 unstacked limit already covers it, so stacking adds nothing.

What to check on your own policy

Look at the declarations page for the UM/UIM limit and the vehicles it covers, and ask the insurer in writing how it counts coverages for your claim. Read what Ala. Code 32-7-23 allows and leaves unsaid for the legal limits, and how Alabama treats uninsured and underinsured drivers for when this coverage applies at all.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the state comparisons above are illustrative, not an exhaustive survey. Confirm how Alabama's rules apply to your specific case with a licensed Alabama attorney.