Many states have minimum requirements for the level of auto insurance that motorists are required to carry. But so often, the minimums are not nearly enough to deal with the possibility of medical expenses or car repairs that can result from an accident.

Clark recently read about a new report in The Wall Street Journal that suggests the number of uninsured motorists is rising. As more and more people are laid off from work, they have to decide whether or not to pay for auto insurance. That leaves the risk that you'll have an accident with an uninsured or under-insured motorist.

Doesn't it seem like you always get hit by someone without insurance? So how can you protect yourself? Check your coverage and make sure it's sufficient enough so that in the event you do get hit, you don't end up having to pay out of your own pocket.

The reality is that no one is truly made whole following an accident -- unless they're tricked into thinking so by a late-night TV ad. Clark's all-time favorite illustration of this was when he saw a minor bus accident. The bus merely tapped the car from behind; there was not a single scratch on the bus and the car's bumper only had minimal damage. But Clark saw more ambulances than you could count on the scene as bus passenger after bus passenger claimed they had "severe injuries."

The lesson to be learned here is that some people look at a minor fender bender as their shot at the jackpot because some lawyer's ad on late-night TV said so.

Remember, if you have a great deal of assets to protect, you need to make sure you have a good liability policy. But if you really have a great deal of assets to protect, you need to get an umbrella policy. Umbrella policies are cheap and effective; for each million in coverage, you usually pay a few hundred dollars a year.