According to the Insurance Research Council, about 12.6 percent of motorists in the United States lack car insurance coverage. This means that you have a one in eight chance of getting into an accident where a negligent driver is not adequately insured.
Nearly one in four Florida drivers may be driving without insurance, according to the study, and that number could rise by as much as five percentage points next year as the economic downturn causes unemployment rates to increase, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.).
When this happens, you are exposed to suffering serious injuries and being stuck holding the bag for all of your harms and losses. Fortunately, there is a way to mitigate this risk by carrying sufficient uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage through your own auto insurance policy.
Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage protects you against accidents that occur when the at-fault driver has absolutely no insurance, or if you are the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
Underinsured motorist coverage (UIM) deals with instances where the limit of the at-fault driver’s insurance is not enough to cover your losses.
Unique Coverage
These two types of insurance coverage are unique because your own auto insurance company effective steps into the shoes of the negligent driver. This means a claims adjuster from your auto insurance company will be assigned to the case and they will treat your claim just as if it was filed by a third party.
This can be surprising to some drivers since they have paid premiums for years and yet their own insurance company is putting up a fight offering a fair and reasonable settlement of your claim.
Initially, uninsured motorist coverage was made to cover only bodily injury. However, some states have extended it to cover property damage. When dealing with property damage, the limit is usually low. The property damage doesn’t extend to vehicles with collision insurance.
Who Is Covered by UM/UIM Policies
The people covered by an uninsured motorist coverage are the insured and members of their family covered by the policy itself. The coverage also extends to people who were in the vehicle when the accident occurred.
Conclusion
If you’re not currently carrying uninsured motorist coverage, or are unsure if this is a part of your car insurance coverage, speak to an experienced auto insurance agent at Anderson & Associates. We can comb through your existing policy, and answer any questions you have about your coverage and needs.
