Three Things to Know about Uninsured Motorist Coverage

 The Insurance Research Council estimates that about 13 percent of drivers in the United States – or one in eight motorists in the country – are uninsured. Adding uninsured motorist coverage to your policy protects you if an uninsured driver hits you. There is also underinsured motorist coverage, which protects you from other drivers who have insurance, but not enough to pay for all the injuries you may have suffered. Here are three things you should know about uninsured motorist coverage.

1. Uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage pays the cost of your hospital bills, lost earnings and pain and suffering if you are injured in an accident. If you are injured by an uninsured driver and don’t have UM coverage, personal injury protection or your own health insurance, you may have to pay out of pocket for your hospital bills. If an accident with an uninsured driver has damaged your car and you don’t have collision coverage, you may have to pay for repairs or take the at-fault driver to court.
Underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage helps pay for your medical bills, and pain and suffering and lost earnings, etc. if you are hit by a driver who lacks sufficient auto insurance coverage to fully cover the cost of your bills.
Uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage is usually sold in amounts that mirror the liability insurance you bought. For example, if you bought a policy with $50,000 per person bodily injury liability coverage, up to $100,000 per accident, then you would buy UM coverage in the same amounts, or less if you want to.
If you choose to buy an amount less than what you carry as liability coverage, an insurer typically will require that you sign a waiver noting that you were offered the higher amount. Liability insurance is mandatory in all states except New Hampshire, and each state sets its own minimum liability requirements.
2. Uninsured Motorist coverage is mandatory in the State of New York. Registering a vehicle for road use requires that a driver carry minimum limits of liability. Basic requirements for a driver’s UM insurance coverage include both bodily injury (minimum of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident) and death (minimum of $50,000 per death and $100,000 per accident). Property damage, however, does not fall under New York UM coverage. Payment for noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering requires the injured person to suffer a injury as defined under Section 5102 (d) of the state’s insurance law.
3. You may need UM coverage even if you have personal injury protection or health insurance coverage. In no-fault states such as New York, motorists are required to buy personal injury protection to make sure that all injured persons have access to emergency treatment, irrespective of who is found to be responsible for the accident. If you don’t have health insurance, you will most likely have to pay out of pocket for bills that exceed the personal injury protection threshold. You may need UM coverage even if you have health insurance because your health insurance policy may not cover the treatment of all injuries and loss of earnings, etc. from an auto accident.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, or if you have lost a loved one in a crash caused by a distracted and negligent driver, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
For over 49 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury cases in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com