What to do if you are in an accident with an underinsured driver?

An accident on the road is a situation that is often difficult to resolve. The issue is complicated even further if the at fault driver does not have an insurance policy that is large enough to cover the damages.

How Insurance Works

Almost every state requires car insurance and each state sets a minimum coverage amount. In general, the majority of that amount is split into three different categories:

  • Bodily injury liability per person
  • Bodily injury liability per accident
  • Property Damage liability per accident

For the most part each state has a unique amount and some states will include things like Personal Injury Protection or uninsured motorist coverage.

How Much Are Insurance Minimums?

If you are looking up your states coverage you might see it expresses as “25/50/25”.

This means that in the case of an accident, the minimum insurance policy will cover up to $25,000 worth of body injury liability per person, up to $50,000 for bodily injury in total if there are multiple people involved, and $25,000 in property damage per accident.

This is a lot of money, however car accidents costs can add up quickly if there are serious injuries involved and this might not be enough to cover the medical treatment that you need.

Who will pay the difference?

If you are involved in an accident that the at fault driver’s insurance does not cover, there is often another layer of coverage that protects against this scenario. It is likely that you and/or the other driver will have underinsured driver coverage. If the damage exceeds the other drivers insurance, the damages will be subtracted from your own underinsured driver policy up to the amount that exceeds the negligent drivers coverage.

What to do Next

If you are in an accident caused by an underinsured driver you should connect with an attorney to help navigate a complicated situation. Learn more about the next steps based on these specific scenarios: