It is a horrible feeling to get into an accident and then realize that the other driver is either not insured or is not insured enough to provide you with the reimbursement that you deserve. That is where uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) in California comes in as it will result in your own insurance picking up where the other party's, if there is any, may fall short.
You Likely Already Have UM/UIM Coverage
Fortunately, your insurance company will automatically include UM/UIM coverage unless you had signed a waiver saying that you did not want it. In other words, you will not accidentally be without it as it must be initially included in all insurance coverage that is offered in the Golden State.
Risk of Not Having It
The main risk of not having UM/UIM coverage is that you may not be properly reimbursed for what happened. You may not receive anything.
That said, your medical bills may still be covered by health or disability insurance. However, even in that case, you will probably need to cover co-pays and deductibles, both of which you normally would not need to do if the medical costs were instead being handled by auto insurance.
What Does It Include?
Standard coverage for motorist incidents involving uninsured or underinsured individuals is $15,000 for property damage, $30,000 for one person's death or bodily injury and $60,000 for multiple people having died or suffered bodily injury.
That is contrasted with the minimum liability insurance requirements that are on the books in California, which is half or less than those figures: $5,000 for property damage, $15,000 for the killing or injuring or one person and $30,000 for the death or bodily harm suffered by multiple individuals.
Hit-and-Run Drivers
For the purposes of uninsured motorist coverage, a hit-and-run driver who fled the scene and cannot be later identified or found is defined and treated as an uninsured motorist.
What Is Covered?
UM/UIM coverage can help reimburse you for a number of accident-related costs.
Some direct expenses that it can cover include your medical treatment, the repair of your car and any other property damage that may have occurred.
Also, if you are losing time from work or perhaps even lost your job entirely as a result of what happened, you can be reimbursed for that as well, not only for lost income since the time of the accident but also for any potential future income that will also be affected by this. Reimbursement for pain and suffering may be included as well.
Note that you do not need to be in a vehicle yourself to be covered. For example, a vehicular accident in which you were a pedestrian would be included in this coverage. That is in addition to if you were instead riding a motorcycle or bicycle.
Family Members
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can also cover family members who are living with you.
As for non-family members, they may only be included if they were directly involved with the accident, such as would be the case if they were an approved driver, a passenger in your vehicle or were entering or exiting it at the time. That said, if they drove your car without your permission, then they usually would not be covered.
Limitations of Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Of course, underinsured motorist coverage will only pay you up to your policy limit. However, it may also be reduced if you can be reimbursed in one or more other ways as well.
Perhaps you were working at the time and can use workers' compensation insurance to pay for at least some of your pain, suffering or damages. You may also be eligible to be reimbursed by the other person's employer's insurance, such as if they were working when the accident happened. It is also possible that you could be covered by a manufacturer's insurance, such as if a defective product had caused the crash.
Also keep in mind that your coverage needs to be higher than theirs for yours to kick in. For example, if you have a $25,000 UM/UIM policy and the other driver has a $25,000 liability policy, your coverage would not apply. Conversely, if yours was instead $50,000, then it would, for the $25,000 that their policy falls short.
Conclusion
In 2022, the percentage of California drivers who were uninsured (17%) was notably higher than the national average (11%).
That number means that every time you take your vehicle out on the roads, there is roughly a one-in-six chance that any other car that you get into a crash with will be driven by an uninsured driver. And there is an even higher chance that the other driver will be at least underinsured.
It cannot be stressed enough how important having UM/UIM coverage is. And note that if you did sign the waiver that removed it from your plan, you can reverse that decision at any time.
Regardless, if you have been involved in a vehicular accident, you may want to secure the services of a car accident lawyer to ensure that you are fairly reimbursed for your expenses and pain and suffering, which will depend on what coverage you and any others who were involved with it held at the time.
