When purchasing an automobile insurance policy you will encounter many provisions and terms you may not be familiar with but are very important to understand. One such coverage is uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, also known by its initials as UM. Uninsured motorist coverage covers you for damages from your bodily injuries sustained in an automobile accident where the at fault driver causes the accident but does not have bodily injury coverage on their vehicle to cover you for your losses. Such losses would include out of pocket medical expenses, wage loss and pain and suffering damages. In this example you could make a UM claim under your own policy for up to your UM coverage limits for losses sustained for your bodily injuries. Similarly underinsured motorist coverage covers you for damages from your bodily injuries sustained in an automobile accident where the at fault driver has bodily injury coverage but it is not sufficient to cover all of your losses or damages. In this example say the at fault driver only carried $10,000 in bodily injury coverage but you have out of pocket medical expenses and wage loss of $20,000, plus pain and suffering damages. You then could make a claim for the at fault drivers $10,000 in bodily injury coverage and make another claim under your underinsured motorist coverage for your damages that exceed the $10,000 BI claim up to the limits of your underinsured motorist coverage. When discussing this coverage with your insurance agent or representative, be advised that you will need to purchase bodily injury coverage to be able to purchase uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage as well.
Further say your household includes you, your spouse and your adult child who all own motor vehicles. With stackable UM coverage you can pay an additional premium on all three motor vehicles in your household. If you or your family members got in an automobile accident where you were injured by the at fault driver, who was uninsured or underinsured for bodily injury coverage, you could add or stack all three of your UM policies when making an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim. When discussing insurance coverage with your agent be sure to purchase stackable UM coverage to provide additional coverage for you and your family. If you have been injured by an uninsured or underinsured at fault driver please call The Umansky Law Firm at 407-599-3838.
