You’re driving through a green light when another car comes out from nowhere and T-bones you in the intersection. It’s clearly not your fault, but unfortunately your car is totaled ($35,000 worth of damage) and you’re going to be in physical therapy for a while ($20,000). You’re lucky enough to have insurance, but there’s just one problem: the other driver doesn’t.
You’ve just learned why it’s so important to have UI and UIM.
What Happens When a Driver is Uninsured?
If someone hits you, they’re responsible for your car damage and your bodily damage. Despite this, 13 percent of the drivers in Wisconsin are uninsured. More are underinsured. So, if someone hits you and causes you $55,000 worth of damage, they’re responsible for it. But because they don’t have insurance themselves, they may not be able to pay you.
If they can’t pay you, they can’t pay you. While you can take them to court and order garnishments and collections, it’s squeezing blood from a stone.
And that can happen if they’re underinsured, too. Consider if your damages exceeded $100,000, but the individual only had a coverage cap of $50,000 per incident. That remaining $50,000 is still legally yours, but it’s going to be difficult to collect it.
What’s UI and UIM?
UI (uninsured motorist) and UIM (underinsured motorist) coverage protects you from the above scenario.
With UI/UIM, your own insurance company pays out on behalf of a motorist who wasn’t insured. You don’t have to worry about going through a lengthy collections process, or about going to court. Your insurance company will pay for it, and will follow everything else up on their side.
This can be a tremendous relief. After all, a car accident can be minor, but it can also be quite medically damaging. You don’t want to worry about where the money is coming from for your medical bills if you can help it. UI, UIM, and UMPD (uninsured motorist property damage) protection will reduce your risk.
Why Do You Need UI and UIM?
At this point, you may be wondering whether you really need UI/UIM. For one, it doesn’t hurt to have it; it’s quite affordable.
But there’s also the simple fact that motorists are going without insurance with increasing frequency.
Due to economic issues, people are losing their jobs. But they still have to drive around to interviews, and they still need to be able to go to the grocery store and perform other vital tasks. At first, this leads to people reducing their insurance coverage, and becoming underinsured motorists. Eventually, it leads to people canceling their insurance but still driving; at that point, they have become an uninsured motorist.
You can protect yourself from uninsured and underinsured motorists, but the only way you can do so is to get UI/UIM. It may be available as a bundle with your current insurance plan, or you may be able to get it more affordably elsewhere.
So, how can you get uninsured or underinsured motorist protection? Your friendly local agent. Contact Feivor Insurance today to get started.