Underinsured Motorist Coverage

Underinsured Motorist Coverage will add little to your bill but could really save you when the at fault driver falls short.

What is underinsured coverage?

Underinsured Motorist Coverage is additional coverage provided by your insurance policy that is not required by law. The purpose of Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) is to protect you in case you are injured in an auto-accident by someone who doesn’t have enough insurance to cover your damages.

When people think of losses in a wreck the first thing that comes to mind is the damage to their car, but this is often just the tip of the ice berg. If you are seriously hurt in a car wreck the costs of your medical treatment quickly surpass the cost of replacing your vehicle; in addition to lost wages.

Why should I have to make up for their mistake?

The majority of divers only carry the minimum required insurance coverage.  In Kentucky that‘s 25/50 for bodily injury and 10,000 for property damage. This means that if a person with minimum state insurance coverage is liable for injuries there is $25,000 max for each person they injured and a maximum of 50,000 for every passenger. So the most any one person can recover through insurance from the at fault driver is $25,000 and the most a collective group of injured people can recover is $50,000. With a serious injury the bills can stack up quickly and while $25,000 may not cover it, that’s all their insurance can give you.

Is there a time limit on my claim?

Since UIM insurance is contract based any lawsuits brought against your insurance company are actually contract claims. Usually a contract statute of limitations applies to UIM cases. However, some insurance companies try to limit the time in which to make a claim or file a lawsuit. Ordinarily someone would have fifteen years to bring a contract lawsuit under KRS 413.090. However, because insurance companies started writing policies with shorter periods of time to bring a claim the courts were forced to create a limitation. The courts have decided that a UIM claim statute of limitations cannot be shortened below the time in which the driver would have to bring a claim against the at fault driver.