If you’re in a wreck with an uninsured or underinsured driver, you’re not protected.  People who have been in a wreck frequently aren’t able to work for some time or face serious, long-term injuries. When a driver is hit by an uninsured or underinsured motorist and doesn’t have any uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage of his or her own to pursue, even the best legal team cannot help. In those situations, clients are stuck with impossible medical bills or left unable to pay their mortgages.  Those people aren’t able to recover for the pain, mental anguish or impairment that the law allows.

This is actually a two-part question.

First, you may not have enough liability insurance — the type of insurance that protects you in the event you cause a wreck and harm someone else.  If you don’t have enough liability insurance, then the person or persons can not only come after your insurance company, but you personally. A judgment against you could cause you to lose your personal assets.   A judgment is a big deal.  It can ruin your credit and make it difficult to rent, lease or buy a home or car.    Taking your physical assets is harder, but it can be done.   For example, in Texas, most people can’t take your homestead or garnish your wages, but someone could take your bank accounts after you deposit your paycheck.  That’s obviously a problem.

Second, you may not have enough coverage against uninsured/underinsured motorists. You need enough coverage to protect yourself in case you’re in a wreck someone else has caused.  When you don’t have enough coverage, any recovery you make will probably go toward paying your doctors’ and hospital bills (and often, it won’t even cover all of those). There likely won’t be enough to compensate you for your lost earnings, pain, mental anguish, impairment and the other elements of damage you’re entitled to recover.

Generally speaking, most insurance policies cover you and your family and people driving your car, provided they have your permission to do so. However, do not automatically assume that is the case. Ask the insurance broker what your policy “does” cover and what it “does not” cover. This is an important question because coverages can vary by policy and also depend on what you choose.

For instance, most insurance policies do cover fire damage to your vehicle, hail, flood, theft, hitting an animal and flying gravel. They also cover crashes that happen while you or another person covered by your policy is driving a rental vehicle. Most also cover collisions while driving in another state and in Canada as well as attorney’s fees should you be sued as a result of an accident. Most policies also pay for lost wages, car repairs, medical and funeral costs to the other driver and passengers if you are responsible for the collision.

Most insurance policies do “not” cover accidents if you are being paid for driving for a ride-sharing company, or delivering food or other items. Most insurance policies do not cover equipment permanently installed in your vehicle or accidents that happen in Mexico, are racing or are driving for a business. They also do not cover damages that were intentionally caused.

There are big differences between an uninsured motorist and an underinsured motorist.  An uninsured motorist is fairly easy to describe — he or she is someone who doesn’t have any insurance. Therefore, they have no insurance to provide coverage for damages and losses.

An underinsured motorist, by contrast, is someone who has insurance, but doesn’t have enough to cover the harm and losses they have caused as a result of an accident. For example, if a driver who causes a wreck has $25,000 of property damage insurance, but hits and totals a new car that will cost $30,000 to replace, then the driver is considered underinsured. It works the same for injury claims. If a driver has the minimum $30,000 of injury coverage, but hits someone and causes them harm of $50,000, the driver is underinsured.

In order to arrive at a figure for a premium to be paid, the insurance companies go through a process referred to as underwriting to decide if they are going to sell you a policy and how much to charge you for that policy. The amount you pay is called the “premium.”

Many drivers do not know that Texas law requires insurance companies to charge fair and reasonable rates, adequate for the risks covered. If an insurance company’s rates are too high, it can be required to pay refunds. The insurance company can appeal a decision to the Texas Department of Insurance.

There are a number of things that the insurance company takes into consideration when figuring out what rate to charge you. They include:

• It depends on your age: women under 21 and men under 25 typically have the highest premiums.
• Driving record and whether or not you have a claims history: if you have a history of accidents or have lots of tickets issues, you may pay a lot more for a policy. And, some companies may refuse to sell you a policy.
• Rural versus urban living: rates may be higher in a city versus a rural setting largely due to the fact that rural residents are less likely to have their car stolen. If you live in a city, rates tend to be higher because there is a higher chance of having an accident and your car being stolen.
• Luxury cars may cost more: rates for luxury and sports cars are higher and also cost more to repair.
• If you use your car for business: rates tend to be higher if you drive your car to work and/or use it for business.
• What’s your credit score: yes, some insurance companies use your credit score to figure out what to charge you. For more information on this, visit here:

You may be surprised to learn that as a consumer buying insurance, you have “rights.” Your rights are that an insurance company may not:

• Refuse to sell you insurance or charge you more because of your national origin, race, religion or color
• Refuse to sell or charge you more due to your marital status, age, gender, geographic location or disability. The exception here is that if the insurance company can show that your disability puts you at a higher risk for loss than others they may insure.
• Refuse to sell you insurance or charge you more just based on your credit score.

Uninsured/underinsured (UM/UIM) motorist insurance is one of the most important types of insurance you can buy. Uninsured/underinsured coverage is insurance that covers injuries and losses as the result of a vehicle collision caused by a driver that does not have insurance or has too little insurance to cover all losses.

This kind of coverage is beneficial because it helps you and your family deal with medical expenses if the at fault driver is underinsured or has no insurance at all. Under Texas law you are not required to buy uninsured/underinsured coverage; however, insurance carriers are required to offer it to you. UM/UIM is a wise purchase to help protect you in case of a car accident.

Generally, no.  When you buy your insurance, you can add uninsured/underinsured coverage for a fairly minimal amount.  Obviously, some people have extreme situations where it becomes more costly, but for most people, it only adds a few dollars to the bill.

You may well be a good driver, but that does not mean others on the road are, nor does it mean they have insurance either. If you were to be involved in an accident and you did not have insurance, and the other driver did not either, seeking compensation would be incredibly difficult.

Another point to consider is that driving without insurance is not a victimless crime. An example would be if you were hit by an uninsured driver, but only carry liability insurance, you are not able to repair your vehicle unless you pay for it out of your pocket. Additionally, there are usually medical costs involved after a collision, minor or major. You would be responsible for those bills.

To avoid situations like this the Texas Department of Insurance created a database to deal with uninsured drivers, called TexasSure. It links registered vehicles, liability policies, and vehicle identification numbers (VIN). Police officers can access the system and know immediately who is driving uninsured.

It’s a good place to start, but in the meantime, each Texas driver needs to take care out there. The best place to start, barring accessing TexasSure, is to get the proper insurance when you get your vehicle insured. That means purchasing uninsured (UM) and underinsured (UIM) motorist coverage. Although the state does not mandate UM/UIM it makes a big difference if you are in a wreck.

If you are in a collision with an uninsured driver basic liability insurance policy does not cover the accident. You would be responsible for your medical costs, property damage, and other related damages.

Most drivers opt to go with the basic liability policy because it costs less. It may well save you money over time. However, if you are in a crash, your costs are astronomical without the right type of insurance. UM/UIM offers you protection if you are in a hit and/or if you were in a hit-and-run.

If you are injured by a hit-and-run driver without insurance or low insurance limits, you may file a claim with your auto insurance carrier – a claim referred to as an uninsured (UM) or underinsured claim (UIM). This kind of insurance is usually available to assist you in recouping lost wages and to pay your medical bills.

You are still able to file a claim if you have been involved in a vehicle crash and do not have insurance. However, the police may issue you a ticket for driving while uninsured.