Drivers without Liability Coverage

An ‘Uninsured Motorist Clause’ is a provision commonly found in automobile insurance policies that provide for a driver to receive damages for any injury they receive from an uninsured, negligent driver. The owner of the policy pays a premium to the insurance company to include this clause.

Although not exclusive, this coverage is typically added to an automobile insurance policy. In the event of a qualifying accident, the insurance company pays the difference between what the uninsured driver can pay and what the injured driver would be entitled to as if the uninsured motorist had proper insurance. Uninsured motorist coverage is the most important coverage on a person’s insurance policy due to a large number of uninsured and underinsured drivers on the road today.

The first category of persons who may trigger an uninsured motorist provision consists of individuals who do not have liability coverage for the vehicle he or she is operating. In most states, it is a crime to be uninsured in this manner.

Hit and Run Drivers

The next category consists of hit and run drivers. When an individual flees the scene of an accident without leaving sufficient information to identify him or herself, the individual is considered uninsured for the purposes of an uninsured motorist provision. A third category (in some states) is a driver that does have liability coverage for his or her vehicle, but the dollar amount of that driver’s liability coverage is less than the dollar amount of the victim’s uninsured motorists coverage. This is sometimes also referred to as an underinsured motorist clause.