Underinsured Motorist Coverage
A car ran me off the road, and kept going, I don’t think we will ever find them, is it still possible for me to get a recovery for my injuries?
If you have a motor vehicle insurance policy of your own, yes you can still get a recovery. You would need to open an uninsured (UM) claim with your own car insurance provider. This type of uninsured driver is often called a phantom motorist. UM coverage is sold with any motor vehicle policy that you would purchase in Missouri. Therefore, the coverage limit, in this circumstance, would depend on what you purchased at the time you obtained your own policy.
So when you are insuring each of your vehicles, make sure you are requesting policy limits that you would want available to you, if your life were turned upside down by severe injuries. Often, insurance agents/companies might only sell to you the minimums necessary for it to qualify as a “full coverage” policy, but they will not show you pricing on coverage amounts that would be much more helpful after a severe car accident, caused by a phantom motorist who left the scene. The minimums required for them to sell you a “full coverage” policy is $25k . Often, your initial emergency room visit and the ambulance ride to get there, might exceed that amount of money. Again, you are in control of how much uninsured coverage would be available to you in this circumstance. With inflation and cost of living sky rocketing, you might want to consider purchasing uninsured motorist coverage of $1 million or more. You might be surprised by how small the difference is in your monthly premium for you to have significantly more UM coverage available to you, when you are injured due to the negligence the driver who left the scene and cannot be/has not been located.
Many people worry that opening an uninsured claim with their own insurance provider will result in increased payments/premiums or penalties, but that is NOT the case. As long as you were not at fault, your insurance company should not penalize you when you access/use your uninsured motorist coverage. To help make sure this goes smoothly in this more complicated circumstance, immediately, once you are able, record notes of all you can remember about the phantom motorist and/or the vehicle he/she was driving.
An experienced injury attorney can help you determine whether the person who caused the car accident might qualify under your policy as an uninsured motorist. It might be that the injury attorney discovers some other applicable coverage or means of recovery while conducting that investigation. So, even if it seems like a straight forward uninsured motorist circumstance, before contacting and being questioned, by your own insurance provider, it costs you nothing to call the attorneys at McDuffey & Medcalf and schedule a free consultation.
For more personal injury law information:
Three Common Personal Injury Law Questions
5 Key Points to Consider for Your Personal Injury Claim
FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO SEE THE LAWYERS AT MCDUFFEY & MEDCALF LLC CAN HELP YOU WITH YOUR PERSONAL INJURY CASE:
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This article is NOT intended to substitute for consultation with a lawyer, nor should you rely upon this article in place of a lawyer. In most cases, consultations with a lawyer are free. We strongly advise you discuss the facts of your case with any attorney. The choice of an attorney is an important decision, and should not be based on this article alone. Other lawyers might disagree with any opinions offered herein.
