What is Uninsured Motorist Coverage?

Most people are taught what to do in the unfortunate event that they get into a car accident soon after they learn to drive in the first place.

One minute, you're driving down the road, minding your own business. The next minute, you stop at a stop light - only the car behind you fails to do the same. Through no fault of your own, you've been rear-ended. But when you get out of the car to inspect the damage and exchange insurance information with the other driver, you find out something terrible:

They don't actually have insurance information to exchange.

It's a situation that is far more common than a lot of people realize. If you aren't hit by an uninsured motorist, you may find yourself in the even worse situation of a driver that leaves before you can get his information at all.

Thankfully, all hope is not lost. In the event that one of these scenarios does occur, there is always uninsured motorist coverage. It's a specific type of coverage that protects you financially from these types of drivers and more.

What is Uninsured Motorist Coverage?

As the name suggests, uninsured motorist coverage is designed to protect you (or any other drivers on your policy) if you get hit by someone who has no auto insurance to speak of.

Even though having auto insurance is legally required if you're going to be driving a car at all (most dealerships won't let you off the lot with a newly purchased car until you show proof of insurance), some people still go without it anyway.

Keep in mind that for the purposes of this discussion, an uninsured motorist is defined as someone who does not have liability car insurance.

New call-to-actionBecause of that, uninsured motorist coverage is designed to fill in the gap between your costs and the other driver's ability to pay should an accident occur. If you were to get into a car accident, and it was determined to be the other driver's fault, their insurance would typically cover the damages to both vehicles. If they don't have insurance, they would have to pay for your car out of pocket - if they have the ability to do so at all.

Assuming they don't, uninsured motorist coverage can help get your vehicle repaired, getting you back on the road before you know it.

Uninsured vs. Underinsured: What You Need to Know

Note that while uninsured motorist coverage is similar in concept to underinsured coverage, they are ultimately two different things and should always be treated as such.

Uninsured motorist coverage protects you in the event that you're in an accident with someone who is at fault and who doesn't carry liability insurance at all. Underinsured motorist coverage is valuable when you're in an accident with an at-fault driver who has liability limits that are too low to cover the medical expenses of anyone who may have been injured.

For the sake of example, let's say you get sideswiped by someone and the passenger riding in your car is injured and has to go to the hospital. Under normal circumstances, that at-fault driver (or at least, their insurance company) would need to cover those medical bills in addition to the cost to repair or replace your car.

If their limits are too low (which is a decision that people sometimes make in an attempt to get a cheaper policy), you'll quickly hit the policy cap. This means that there is no more money to recover, and you're on the hook for the difference.

With underinsured motorist coverage, however, your insurance company would step in to cover the remaining costs to make sure that you don't have to do so out-of-pocket.

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Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage Required?

At this point, it's important to note that both underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage is required in many states. Almost half of them carry such requirements in a policy, in fact. If you're curious about whether you already have these types of coverage, consult your provider for more information.

Having said that, even if you live in a state that doesn't require either type of coverage, it's definitely a good reason to at least think about it for all the reasons outlined above.

What Happens If You Get Into An Accident With An Uninsured Motorist?

If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of getting into a car accident with an uninsured motorist, there are a few key things to be aware of.

In a "typical" car accident, the first thing you would do is get medical assistance to anyone in need. During this time the police will likely be called, at which point a report will be filed. Any cars that are unsafe to drive will be moved off the road until they can be towed away.

Somewhere in here, you would also exchange insurance information with the at-fault driver so that you can file a claim with their insurance company for compensation.

If they do not have coverage, to begin with, you sadly cannot file a claim. If you happen to be at fault and are the one who doesn't have coverage, you'll be stuck paying those medical bills yourself. If you need to take time off of work to recover from any injuries that you've sustained, you'll also have lost wages that you have no chance of recovering.

These are just a few of the many, many reasons why you should always invest in an adequate car insurance policy - even if you don't necessarily want to part with the money.

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In the End

One out of every eight drivers is currently uninsured, according to a study by the Insurance Research Council. This is why, if you haven't already explored investing in uninsured motorist coverage for your own protection, now would be an excellent time to do so.

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