What Does Uninsured Motorists Insurance Cover in the United States?

In this article, we shall discuss the definition of uninsured motorists insurance, details of what this type of auto insurance covers, how uninsured motorists insurance works and the difference between uninsured and underinsured motorists insurance policy.

What Is Uninsured Motorists Insurance Policy?

This is a type of auto insurance policy that protects a policyholder against paying out of their pocket for any extra damages that they can’t afford. 

There are basically four factors that make up uninsured motorist insurance. These factors are underinsured motorist insurance, property damages, bodily injury and uninsured motorist insurance.

What Uninsured Motorists Insurance Covers

The two major categories of uninsured motorists insurance are uninsured property damage and uninsured bodily damage.

In some states in the United States where uninsured motorist insurance is not compulsory, the most basic requirements for car insurance will require either both or just one of the two. However, there are situations where you have to add uninsured motorist insurance to your regular car insurance.

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Let’s discuss the two forms of uninsured and underinsured motorists’ insurances and what they cover.

1. What Is Uninsured Motorist Property Damage and What Does It Cover?

This is the type of insurance policy that will cover the damage of the car, the repair, rental car fee and damage to surrounding areas involved in an accident when the minimum liability of the driver who was at fault won’t be enough to pay for it.

2. What Does Uninsured Motorist Bodily Damage Cover?

In the event of a car accident that results in a physical injury on the body of the driver and those of his passengers, the motor insurance policy is supposed to pay for it but when the amount involved is greater than the minimum liability of the driver, the uninsured motorist’s bodily damage covers it.

Uninsured motorist bodily damage covers the following: medical bills, funeral expenses and a form of salary compensation if the accident is too serious that you had to miss workdays.

3. What Underinsured Motorist Property Damage Covers

What’s your fate if you get involved in a car accident with a driver who has no auto liability insurance cover? I’m sure you are scratching your head, right? This is where underinsured motorist property damage coverage comes in. It takes care of the repair, rental car fee and damage to the surrounding environment where the accident occurred if the at-fault driver doesn’t have auto liability insurance.

4. How Underinsured Motorist Bodily Damage Works

In the event of an accident where the at-fault driver does not have auto liability insurance, your underinsured motorist bodily damage policy will cover the medical bills incurred while trying to recover from the accident, the funeral expenses (if anybody was lost) or any lost salary pay (if you miss workdays because of the accident). This type of auto insurance policy also covers the medical bills of passengers involved in the accident.

To ensure that you’re fully covered while driving, top insurance experts in the United States advise that you should purchase both property damage and bodily damage so that you don’t have to pay out-of-your-pocket if an accident occurs with an at-fault driver.

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What Is the Difference Between Underinsured and Uninsured Motorist Insurance?  

The difference between uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance is the following:

• Uninsured occurs when an at-fault driver, the one who caused the accident, is uninsured and had no auto liability insurance
• Underinsured is when the at-fault driver, the one who caused the accident, does have auto liability insurance, but the accident is over their auto liability insurance. In other words, their insurance does not cover the full cost of damages.

In both cases, if you have full uninsured motorist insurance then the insurance company will pay all the fees, so you don’t have to pay out-of-pocket.