Understanding insurance coverage can be very confusing. The uninsured motorist piece of your car insurance is no exception. Gaining a little knowledge about what it means to have uninsured motorist coverage or what it means if you have to file a claim can help you feel more comfortable if ever you are in a Virginia auto accident with an uninsured motorist.
What is uninsured motorist coverage?
Sadly, not everyone holds the insurance they are required to hold. Due to this fact, insurance holders have to protect themselves. This is where the uninsured motorist coverage comes into play. This coverage is there so that if you are involved in a car accident and the other driver is not insured and at fault, you have a resource to pay for your bodily injuries. This doesn’t have anything to do with repairing your car. It has to do with the medical bills and personal injuries you suffered from the accident.
This coverage isn’t always required or even required to be very high. It’s important to consider the cost of adding it and keeping it at a high level of coverage. Usually if a person can’t afford to buy auto insurance they especially won’t be able to pay your medical bills if they hit you or your car.
Filing an Uninsured Motorist Claim
If you find yourself in a situation where you need to file an uninsured claim it’s important to remember a few key pieces of information. One of the most important pieces is that your insurance company is actually acting on behalf of the uninsured driver and is only going to pay if the driver is found at fault. In this situation it is important to have some legal help to assure that you are being represented properly.
The second key piece is that you need to be proactive. The insurance company of the other driver is supposed to notify your insurance company of the lack of coverage but this is not always the case. This is especially true if the driver doesn’t even have an insurance company to contact. To help speed up the process, you need to contact your insurance company immediately and notify them about your claim. Waiting for others to do the work for you can put you at a serious disadvantage.
Insurance claims can get very tricky and overwhelming. This is why it’s important to contact someone in the legal field to help you with all the steps. The lawyers at Dulaney, Lauer & Thomas are here to help you with this. They have attorneys with extensive knowledge in this area and can help you make sure you get the proper representation and compensation. Call them today at (540) 341-0007.
