Uninsured motorist coverage, also know as UM coverage, is a policy you may have and not know you have it or what it does for you. UM coverage is meant to help protect you if you are in an accident and the other driver’s insurance is not enough or non-existent. In this article, we explain what is Uninsured Motorist coverage.
UM coverage applies in three distinct situations:
- An uninsured driver hits you.
- Whenever someone hits you and flees the scene without being caught in a hit-and-run.
- The other driver doesn’t have enough insurance.
Types of Uninsured Motorist Coverage:
- Add-on
- Reduced by
How do the different types of uninsured motorist coverage work?
- Add-on
- Add-on UM coverage stacks on top of any liability insurance coverage carried by the at-fault driver.
- For example, if you were hit by another driver and had significant medical bills in the amount of $100,000, but the other driver only carries a $25,000 bodily injury policy.
- Having UM bodily injury add-on coverage worth $100,000 would give you $25,000 (liability policy) + $100,000 (add-on UM) = $125,000 in available injury insurance for your accident. Add-on coverage will combine the insurance policies.
- Reduced by
- with “reduced by” coverage, your UM insurance coverage gets to subtract the amount of liability insurance from how much they owe.
- For example, if you were hit by another driver and had significant medical bills in the amount of $100,000, but the other driver only carries a $25,000 bodily injury policy.
- Having reduced by UM bodily injury coverage worth $100,000 would give you $25,000 (liability policy) + $75,000 ($100,00-$25,000 – “reduced by” UM) =$100,000 in available injury insurance for your accident. Reduced by coverage subtracts the amount of the liability coverage from what your insurances policy owes you.
- Add-on
Notify all uninsured motorist motorist coverage carriers immediately after an accident!
- Alert all carriers after an accident as soon as possible because failing to do so can cause you to lose the coverage even if you need it later.
- Sometime, you can also use a resident relative’s uninsured motorist policy for your accident – even if you are not listed on their policy. This can change on a case to case basis, so only an experienced lawyer can advise you on all available insurance for your accident.
Important information to consider:
- In Georgia, one in eight drivers has no insurance coverage, so UM coverage is very important to have on your policy. It is very important to call your insurance company and check to see if you currently have UM coverage.
- UM coverage generally can still apply even if you are a passenger in someone else’s vehicle.
- Not every insurance companies policy operates the same way. Some insurance companies allow you to stack different UM policies on different vehicles to maximize the amount of available coverage.
We hope this information has helped you understand uninsured motorist coverage. At our firm, we’ve handled dozens of UM cases, and some of them are extremely complicated to determine the amount of insurance coverage. If you need a winning accident lawyer, please call our office and allow us to share our experience and determine the amount of UM coverage in your accident in a free consultation today.