When you are in an accident, you may have a lot of thoughts fly through your head in a relatively short amount of time. Your first concern may be with your wellbeing and the health of the others in your vehicle. This may turn to worry about your vehicle and its ability to continue driving. As you start to soak in the bigger picture, you may start to worry about the driver who hit you. Is he or she OK? When you get out of the car to check, you may try to exchange insurance information so you can start the claims process. What can you do if the other driver tells you he or she does not have any insurance? Getting in an uninsured driver accident doesn’t have to add extra stress to your life.
The At-Fault Driver Pays
In most states, the driver who caused the accident is the one who is supposed to be liable for the damages done to both vehicles and any medical expenses you incur because of the crash. In other words, if you were the one who ran into the other car, your insurance policy would cover the cost to fix both your vehicle and the vehicle of the other driver.
Because you weren’t at fault in this case, the other driver’s insurance should theoretically pay the repair and medical bills. However, when uninsured drivers are at fault, this doesn’t always work out.
A Lawsuit Can Help
One option you have to recoup your loss is to turn to an attorney for help. He or she may be able to go after the other driver’s assets to help you pay for the bodily damages done to you and any of the passengers in your car at the time of the incident. While a lawsuit can be beneficial in some cases, it doesn’t always work out to your benefit. Suing a person who has no assets worth what you need can end up in costly legal bills and a small payout.
An Addon Policy Can Save the Day
The better option for you is to turn to your uninsured or underinsured motorist policy. This addon coverage helps protect you if you are ever in an uninsured motorist accident. Here’s how the policy works:
- Another driver hits you, but his insurance either does not exist or is not high enough to cover your expenses.
- You try to make a claim, but your provider does not want to pay for damages you are not liable for.
- Your underinsured insurance policy pays for applicable medical bills up to a certain amount depending on the parameters of your coverage.
This type of addon coverage can be beneficial in states that have a lower minimum liability rate because it can help pay the difference in medical bills even if the other person has some coverage. If you don’t have this type of policy on your car insurance coverage, you may end up having to pay for everything out of pocket.
You can start preparing yourself for the unexpected today. Work with one of the agents here at bolt insurance Agency to protect yourself against an uninsured driver accident. Adding this extra coverage could give you the financial stability you need to pay for applicable medical expenses.
