Drivers – don’t get stuck paying for an accident you didn’t cause!
This blog is about uninsured drivers and how to avoid paying for damages they cause in an accident.
Have you heard of underinsured or uninsured motorist insurance? Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t. But we bet you have heard a variety of horror stories of someone who was involved in an accident with a driver who either didn’t have insurance and fled the scene, or didn’t have “good” insurance and wasn’t able to completely cover all the damages.
No one wants to get stuck in either of these situations. And it happens much too often. How do you avoid it?
Avoid covering damages from an accident you didn’t cause with underinsured or uninsured motor insurance.
Uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance (UM/UIM) is coverage that comes into play if an accident happens and the driver-at-fault either doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance to fully cover the damages.
There are two different types of underinsured motorist policies – UIM bodily injury coverage and UIM property damage coverage.
If you are injured in an accident and the driver-at-fault doesn’t have insurance, or doesn’t have enough insurance to cover all the damages, then UIM bodily insurance comes into play and will pay for medical bills and other injury-related expenses. It will also provide coverage in case the at-fault driver can’t be identified, i.e. a hit-and-run.
UIM property damage covers the cost for vehicle repairs if the driver-at-fault doesn’t have enough insurance or any insurance at all. Unlike UIM bodily injury, UIM property damage won’t provide coverage if the driver-at-fault can’t be identified, so there is no coverage for a hit-and-run.
How does uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage work?
Let’s say you drive an $80,000 BMW and are in an accident with an insured driver with minimum state coverage. The damages total $30,000. While the driver at-fault does have insurance, they only have $15,000 in property damage liability coverage. If you don’t have UIM property damage coverage, you are responsible for the remaining $15,000 balance to repair the vehicle.
Don’t get stuck paying for an accident you didn’t cause.
Talk to your insurance agent and make sure the coverage you currently have will provide protection if you are in an accident with an uninsured or underinsured driver. Without it, the cost to repair damages will come out of your bank account, which is something every driver who has been in an accident that wasn’t their fault wants to avoid.
