Stacked Vs. Unstacked Auto Insurance

Key Points:

• Stacked insurance can boost your coverage for medical bills when someone without enough insurance causes an accident.
• You have to own and insure multiple vehicles to use stacked coverage.
• You can get stacked coverage in over half of U.S. states, but not all providers offer it.

Being the victim of a car accident is stressful enough, but if the at-fault driver doesn’t have insurance, things can escalate. Your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage can pay for bills in this scenario, but only up to a limit. Stacking lets you combine coverage for multiple cars you own to increase this limit.

In this article, we’ll get into the specifics between stacked vs. unstacked auto insurance. We’ll also mention a couple of providers that should be on your car insurance shopping list. In our research, these providers performed well across multiple categories and are a few of the best options for car insurance today.

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What Is Stacked Vs. Unstacked Auto Insurance?

Some states allow drivers to combine certain insurance coverage through stacking when they have multiple vehicles. Stacking applies to uninsured and underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage. This insurance comes into play if someone without enough coverage or with no coverage at all causes an accident and you sustain injuries. Medical bills can be expensive nowadays, so stacking lets you take advantage of the coverage you have for multiple vehicles.

What Is Stacked Insurance?

Stacked insurance allows you to combine uninsured and underinsured motorist bodily injury (UMBI) limits between multiple vehicles that you own. If you have two cars with limits of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident each, you can use combined limits of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident for UMBI claims.

What Is Unstacked Insurance?

Unstacked insurance does not combine your amount of coverage, applying your standard coverage limits to one specific vehicle. Unstacked car insurance does not boost your UMBI limits and is usually the default in most states. If you have multiple vehicles with standard UMBI coverage, it’s unstacked insurance.

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How Does Stacked Insurance Work?

The ability to stack insurance exists to help cover significant health costs for accident victims. While underinsured and uninsured motorist coverages also pay for property damage (UMPD), that part of the coverage is not affected by stacking.

UMBI coverage comes in two limits: per person and per accident. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll talk about UMBI limits as a single number, but stacking affects both types.

Stack Within One Policy Or Across Policies

There are two ways that stacking can work: within one policy or across multiple policies.

You can stack coverage within one car insurance policy by insuring multiple vehicles on the same policy. Often, you can get a multi-car quote that includes a stacking option right there, which makes things easy. You’ll be able to see the difference in price between stacked vs unstacked insurance coverage on your quote.

On the other hand, you might have one car on a certain policy and a second car on another policy. For stacking to work, both of these policies need to be owned by the same person, and they need to be provided by the same company. In this case, you could pay slightly more on one car insurance policy to stack coverages together.

Stacking won’t work across multiple policies owned by different people or bought from different companies.

Why Stack Insurance Coverage?

The main reason to stack insurance is to get more uninsured and underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage.

Let’s say you have four cars, and each of them has UMBI limits of $50,000. Now, it makes sense that your collision coverage on one car wouldn’t be used for another car. But UMBI coverage is to pay for your injuries as an accident victim. Stacking lets you access each car’s policy and use all four UMBI limits at the same time. 

If four cars have UMBI limits of $50,000, that gives you $200,000 in total when stacked. $200,000 provides a lot more coverage for serious injuries that can happen if you get hit by an uninsured driver.

Of course, stacked insurance coverage costs a little bit more than unstacked insurance coverage on your policy. But it doesn’t cost as much as increasing each car’s UMBI policy to reflect a combined limit, or to reach $200,000 for each car in this example. That’s what you would have to do to get more coverage in a state that doesn’t allow stacking.

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Where Can You Get Stacked Insurance?

According to Allstate, 32 states allow stacked auto insurance. In some of these states, insurance companies are required to offer stacked insurance coverage in clear language on the policy. In others, insurance companies can conceal this option in the fine print to discourage people from using it. Some states don’t allow stacking, and a few other states don’t have legislation, one way or the other, on the issue.

Just because a state allows stacking doesn’t mean every insurance company will offer it. If you’re interested in stacked insurance, reach out to your insurance company to see if you can get it.

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Stacked Vs. Unstacked Car Insurance: Our Take

To sum up, stacked insurance simply combines your UMBI coverage limits if you have multiple vehicles under the same insurance company. You can then use the combined limit if someone without enough insurance causes an accident and you sustain injuries. However, not all states offer it, and some companies don’t advertise the coverage option.

Our Recommendations For Car Insurance

When looking for stacked car insurance coverage, first find a reliable auto insurance provider and then ask an insurance agent if the company offers stacked insurance in your state. Unless your state requires it, you might not see an option for stacking on your quote.

USAA: Best For Military Members

USAA frequently wins high ratings from J.D. Power surveys for its claims experience and customer service. It also has an A++ financial strength rating from AM Best, which shows it can handle claims obligations easily. You can get discounts for safe driving, military deployment, good driving history, and more with the company.

But what about the price? USAA tends to be the cheapest option for many drivers in different states. Sometimes, the price you pay for cheap insurance is bad customer service, but not here. The only caveat with USAA is that you have to be a member of the military or a veteran, or you have to be a spouse or child of someone who has had a USAA insurance policy (auto or home).

Read more in our full review of USAA auto insurance.

State Farm: Best Overall Provider

For the rest of us, State Farm car insurance is a great option. We rated the company as the best option overall considering its low average prices and wide range of coverage options. Like USAA, State Farm has an A++ financial strength rating from AM Best. Drivers can get many discounts, including defensive driving, good student, multi-car, and enroll in its Steer Clear^® and Drive Safe & Save™ programs.

In particular, the good student discount can give young drivers up to 25 percent off on their premiums. Combine that with the educational app Steer Clear for another discount, and that makes for affordable coverage for teens and students.

Read more in our full review of State Farm auto insurance.

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Stacked Vs Unstacked Auto Insurance: FAQ

Below are a few frequently asked questions about stacked car insurance:

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How We Rate Auto Insurers

Our review team extensively researches auto insurance providers to deliver informed and unbiased assessments of leading companies. We evaluate several key rating factors that are important to consumers to determine which providers are the best in the industry:

• Reliability: It’s important that an auto insurer is able to meet its claims obligations. Companies with a strong financial strength rating from AM Best score best in this category. Established insurers with a long history of reliable service also receive positive marks.
• Availability: Insurance companies that offer wider availability to consumers in terms of state availability and few eligibility requirements are more likely to meet consumer needs.
• Coverage: To determine our coverage score, we look at the number of coverage options available as well as coverage limits and deductible options. Our ratings also take into account additional services and benefits like roadside assistance.
• Pricing: Cost can be difficult to compare between insurers because so many factors impact annual premiums. The cheapest insurer for one driver may not be the cheapest for another. To determine our cost score, we look at insurance rate estimates generated by Quadrant Information Services, discount opportunities, and consumer reports.
• Service: We comb through customer reviews on sites like the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to learn about customer experiences. Insurers with a low volume of complaints score well in this area. We also consider the claims process, giving higher ratings to car insurance providers that offer a smooth experience.
• Technology: Providers with an online quote tool, easy-to-use claims app and a usage-based insurance app score best in this category.

*Data accurate at time of publication.

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