If you’re driving along the highway with seven other cars to Hillsboro, say going along TV Highway, odds are that one of them is uninsured.
The Insurance Information Institute estimates that about 15% of drivers nationally are uninsured. Oregon ranked 18th coming in just under 15%, about one out of seven. (The data is from 2023 and always lags a couple of years.)
So what happens if you get in an accident with someone who has no insurance?
This is where your Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage comes into play. Your car insurance will be your next line of defense, and it will provide protection up to the limits you’ve selected. And it matters.
Earlier in the year, one client was driving her minivan to Hillsboro when another driver crunched her from behind. Injuries were relatively minor, thankfully, but the van itself was totaled.
The person who hit her was clearly at-fault. The sheriff dropped more bad news. He informed her that the other person had no insurance. For those of you who want justice, the sheriff did ticket the other driver for driving without insurance, but that’s cold comfort and no help for all the damages that have already been done.
So what happened?
Her own insurance picked up the tab for her damages and injuries under the Uninsured Motorist coverage. In other words, our client didn’t have to spend time or resources seeking restitution from the other party (though the insurance company might decide to). Her insurance stepped in to fill the gap.
Or what happens if they don’t have enough insurance?
Another client and his spouse was hit head-on by someone who fell asleep at the wheel. As you might imagine, the cars were totaled; the injuries were terrible.
In this case, the other person did have some insurance, enough to be driving legally. But the coverage was at the minimal limits. (Coverage limits that were set nearly 50 years ago!) Here in Oregon, that means the at-fault driver’s insurance had only $25k available to take care of each clients’ injuries.
So what happened?
Thankfully, the client selected somewhat better underinsured limits on his own policy. His insurer has paid over $100k in medical care to make up for the lack of coverage from the at-fault party.
These two difficult stories remind us of one often neglected part of thinking about insurance. It is important to know that your insurance protects you from the liabilities you or your family might incur from an accident. But just as important, the coverages you select can also help you recover from incidents where someone else is at fault for hitting you.
Remember this the next time you’re revisiting your liability limits. Yes, you are selecting limits because you don’t know how much in damages you might cause to someone else, but you’re also selecting them because you don’t know what those other drivers have–or don’t have.
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