After an auto accident, the victim typically sues the driver who caused the accident to recover their medical bills and other damages, such as pain and suffering. Sometimes, however, the victim finds out the other driver was carrying only a minimal amount of insurance which does not cover the full extent of the victim’s damages. In other cases, the driver may either not have insurance at all, or just flee the crash scene before you can obtain his or her information. In either situation, underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage will allow you to pursue a claim for damages with your own insurance company.  

Our auto accident attorneys at Alvin F. de Levie & Associates have tried and handled underinsured motorist and underinsured motorist claims and fought insurance companies throughout the Commonwealth, including Centre County, Lehigh County, Philadelphia County, Bucks County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, Luzerne County and Clinton County, just to name a few.

As the name implies, underinsured motorist coverage provides a specified level of coverage when the defendant does not have enough insurance to cover the full value of your injuries.  Pennsylvania law only requires drivers to carry a minimum of $15,000 in liability insurance for injuries caused by car accidents. Many drivers choose only the minimum amount of liability insurance to pay lower premiums. If you are in an accident and suffer $100,000.00 worth of damages and the maximum amount the defendant’s coverage is $15,000.00, it is doubtful you will be successful in securing and executing a judgment against the driver for the additional $85,000.00. You will likely never be entirely compensated for your injuries.  

If you have uninsured motorist coverage, however, an auto accident attorney can help you file a claim with your own insurance company to recover the additional $85,000.00 in damages. If the insurance company disagrees with you, you can file suit against them just as you would the driver to fight for full compensation. Filing an underinsured motorist claim will not affect your premiums or your insurability.

Uninsured motorist coverage works similarly to underinsured motorist coverage, except that in these cases the other driver either does not have insurance at all or has fled the scene before you can obtain any identifying information that would allow you to file a claim with his or her insurance company. In the case discussed above, you would seek the full $100,000.00 in damages from your own insurance company as if you were making a claim against the defendant driver. Again, filing an uninsured motorist claim will not affect your premiums or your insurability.

Unlike coverage for injury and property damage liability, Pennsylvania does not require drivers to purchase either underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage. As explained by the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance, both underinsured motorist uninsured motorist coverage is optional. However, Pennsylvania requires insurance companies to offer these coverages to applicants and to make sure the insurance company informs the driver he or she may reject these coverages. The rejections must be signed and placed on separate forms/pages in the application for insurance coverage.

While you need not purchase insurance coverage under Pennsylvania law, we highly recommend that you do. We’ve seen countless cases where a Plaintiff’s recovery is either severely limited or completely denied because the other driver either did not have enough insurance or did not have insurance at all.

Underinsured and uninsured motorist claims can be tricky. First, determining how much coverage is available to you may not be as simple as checking your policy. Pennsylvania law requires that, if you do purchase UM or UIM coverage, the coverage amount cannot be lower than your liability coverage unless you sign special forms. If these forms do not conform to law, you may be owed additional UM and UIM coverage. Even if you did not purchase coverage, the insurance company might not have obtained the proper rejection forms from you. In that case, you may be entitled to benefits even though you did not purchase them due to the insurance company’s failure to follow the law.

Once coverage is determined, you still have to prove your damages to the insurance company like you would in any lawsuit. Additionally, if you are filing an uninsured motorist claim because the other driver fled the scene, you will have to prove you were hit by another vehicle, as the insurance company may believe you caused the damage yourself.

At the Law Offices of Alvin F. de Levie & Associates, we have decades of experience handling uninsured and underinsured motorist claims. In fact, in an underinsured motorist claim that went to Mediation in 2016, we obtained the fourth highest mediated settlement in the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Contact our firm today at (844) 777-2529 for a consultation. One of our team members will be in immediate contact with you. We maintain offices throughout Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, State College, Bellefonte, and Lock Haven, and we are willing to meet any clients throughout the Commonwealth.