Too often, car accident victims think that they are out of luck if they are hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver. Luckily, you can look to your own insurance policy for coverage in these situations.
Kentucky and Indiana law require drivers to carry liability insurance so that if they cause a wreck, an injured party can be compensated for their injuries. Unfortunately, the law only requires drivers to carry coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per occurrence. If you have been involved in a severe collision with life-altering injuries, $25,000 would be all you could recover from the at-fault driver’s insurance company. If there are several injured parties, $50,000 would have to be split up amongst all injured claimants. When someone has been seriously injured, this minimum coverage is simply not enough to cover sky high medical bills, let alone wage loss or your pain and suffering. While some people do choose to pursue a damage award from a judge or jury, even if you are successful in winning your case, enforcing a legal judgment can be challenging and requires identifying and attaching the debtor’s assets.
Enter under-insured motorist coverage.
While drivers are not required by law to carry under-insured motorist coverage, it can be included in your policy upon request. By electing this coverage, you are creating a safety net in the event you are involved in a severe collision with a driver that has only a minimum limits policy and it is not enough to fully compensate you for your damages.
The goal of When someone is hurt due to the negligence of another person, the goal in our justice system is to use money to make a person whole again and fill in what has been lost. It is heartbreaking to see a client’s life turned upside down after a car wreck that was not their fault, find out the at-fault party is uninsured or under-insured, to see a client’s life turned upside down and only being able to recover the minimum amount because they did not have underinsured coverage. What’s in your policy?