All of us who own/drive a motor vehicle must, per Connecticut law, carry automobile insurance. With that responsibility, we seek the advice of insurance companies and rely on their agents to explain the different types of coverage to us. With this advice, we make an intelligent decision about the amount and type of coverage we should obtain to protect ourselves sufficiently if we are involved in a car accident. One of the types of coverage a person is obligated to carry is uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Although they may sound similar, they are different types of coverage for different situations.
Uninsured Motorist Insurance
First, uninsured motorist coverage protects you if you are involved in an accident caused by another person who does not have automobile insurance. In that instance, you would file a claim against your automobile insurance company for your injuries and losses caused by the negligence of the other uninsured driver. However, your insurance company is only obligated to pay, at most, the maximum of your uninsured motorist coverage limits. Suppose you are seriously injured such that your coverage is insufficient to cover your damages. In that case, you could seek to recover additional money from the at-fault driver. However, you would have to hope that person has personal assets to cover your losses.
Underinsured Motorist Insurance
Second is the situation whereby another person’s negligence in an automobile collision causes injuries to you, and that person had automobile liability insurance. But the person’s coverage amount was insufficient to compensate you for your damages and losses. Thus, by definition, the at-fault driver’s vehicle was underinsured within the law of the State of Connecticut. You could then file a claim for underinsured motorist benefits from your automobile insurance company. However, you can only do so if the amount of underinsured benefits you have exceeds the at-fault driver’s policy limits. For example, suppose you and the other driver have the same liability insurance policy limits. In that case, you cannot claim underinsured motorist benefits from your insurance company.
In conclusion, you must ensure you have appropriate insurance coverage to protect you if another driver does not have automobile insurance or does not have enough automobile insurance. You may be reluctant to pursue such a claim against your insurance company for fear of increasing your rates. However, the insurance company cannot raise your rates solely because you made an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim. You have paid this coverage in your monthly premiums for this situation. The entire purpose of purchasing automobile insurance is protection against what you hope never happens, but sadly and sometimes inevitably, does.
If you have been injured by an uninsured/underinsured motorist in Connecticut, please contact Guendelsberger Law Offices, LLP, at 860-354-4444 to discuss your situation in more detail.