Unfortunately, many people wrongly assume that auto and umbrella insurance policies will provide reimbursement for all aspects of an accident on the road. Instead, both of these policies cover your own liability and provide compensation to others in the event that you are responsible for an accident. However, if another driver causes an accident and doesn’t have enough insurance coverage to compensate you, your own auto or umbrella policies may not be enough.
Auto insurance is required in most states because all drivers on the road essentially put their trust in one another to not get into an accident. As a result, your regular auto insurance policy will reimburse another driver if you are the cause of an accident. In a similar way, umbrella policies provide you with excess coverage for a number of different personal liabilities.
However, if another driver doesn’t have enough coverage to fully pay for the damage of an accident, you could be left to pay the bills yourself.
- Uninsured motorists (UM) simply don’t purchase an auto insurance policy. As a result, if they cause an accident, there isn’t a policy in place to reimburse you for medical bills. According to the Insurance Research Council, approximately 1 in 7 drivers in the United States are completely uninsured.
- Underinsured motorists (UIM) have an insurance policy, but don’t have a high enough coverage limit to pay for all of the expenses of an accident. Some states only require a small amount of coverage, which won’t be enough to pay all of your medical expenses.
It’s also important to know that hit-and-run accidents—those in which a driver flees—fall into the same category as uninsured motorists, as there is no insurance policy in place to cover the driver’s liability.
Contact us today at 410-213-5600 to examine your auto insurance coverage and ensure that you have proper coverage.
