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An uninsured motorist clause is a provision commonly found in United States automobile insurance policies that provides for a driver to receive damages for any injury he or she receives 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. [1]
This type of coverage is meant to prevent the possibility that a motorist will have to pay for medical expenses and property damage to his vehicle as a result of the accident with the underinsured at-fault motorist. The ramifications related to being hit by an underinsured motorist vary by individual state laws.[ citation needed ]
It is mandatory for the insurance carrier to provide such coverage in some states, such as Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, and New York.
There are three types of uninsured motorists defined under the uninsured motorist clause:
A few states require physical contact for uninsured claims. If contact is required, it can be any kind of contact, such as that between two cars, but can also consist of a vehicle contacting the leg of a motorcyclist or a motorcycle tire.
Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury Coverage covers a victim's medical expenses, lost wages, and other injury related expenses in an instance where the other driver is not insured. This coverage applies only if the other party is found to be at fault for the incident. Depending on the state, the insurance company may or may not require the victim to identify the other vehicle/driver. Many states will cover a hit and run incident.
Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury Coverage protects a driver by financially compensating him for his injury in the event that he is injured in an accident by someone else who negligently caused his injuries when the driver or owner has liability coverage for his or her vehicle that is less than the amount of the victim's liability coverage. Underinsured coverage may also be referred to as an underinsured motorist clause or endorsement or SUM, which is an abbreviation for Supplementary Underinsured Motorist coverage.
Most states require a victim to sue the uninsured motorist (or a fictitious John Doe hit and run driver when litigating the second category of uninsured motorist claim) for his injuries in order to prevail on a breach of contract action against the insurance carrier. Some states, such as Virginia, require that the victim actually obtain a judgment against the uninsured motorist (while serving the uninsured motorist carrier in the lawsuit so that the carrier can defend the suit) and then demand payment from the uninsured motorist carrier prior to suing the carrier for any breach of an uninsured motorist provision. Normally there is no need to sue the carrier in such states as Virginia unless there is a dispute as to coverage. Liability is rarely an issue in cases against John Doe defendants and in any regard, must be litigated in the first suit against the John Doe, if at all. The insurance company will ordinarily pay the judgment, up to the policy limits, once a court determines that an uninsured motorist was at fault. Some states' laws also allow additional insurance coverage to the insured policyholder through policy stacking provisions, whereby a claim may be made against multiple uninsured motorist policies.
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss.
Casualty insurance is a defined term which broadly encompasses insurance not directly concerned with life insurance, health insurance, or property insurance.
Vehicle insurance is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions and against liability that could also arise from incidents in a vehicle. Vehicle insurance may additionally offer financial protection against theft of the vehicle, and against damage to the vehicle sustained from events other than traffic collisions, such as vandalism, weather or natural disasters, and damage sustained by colliding with stationary objects. The specific terms of vehicle insurance vary with legal regulations in each region.
The Progressive Corporation is an American insurance company. In late 2022, Progressive became the largest motor insurance carrier in the U.S. The company was co-founded in 1937 by Jack Green and Joseph M. Lewis, and is headquartered in Mayfield, Ohio. The company insures passenger vehicles, motorcycles, recreational vehicles (RVs), trailers, boats, personal water craft (PWC), and commercial vehicles. Progressive also provides home, life, pet, and other types of insurance through select companies. Additionally, Progressive offers auto insurance in Australia.
Underinsured refers to various degrees of being insured for some real risks and uninsured for others, at the same time.
In its broadest sense, no-fault insurance is any type of insurance contract under which the insured party is indemnified by their own insurance company for losses, regardless of the source of the cause of loss. In this sense, it is similar to first-party coverage. The term "no-fault" is most commonly used in the United States, Australia, and Canada when referring to state or provincial automobile insurance laws where a policyholder and their passengers are reimbursed by the policyholder's own insurance company without proof of fault, and are restricted in their right to seek recovery through the civil-justice system for losses caused by other parties. No-fault insurance has the goal of lowering premium costs by avoiding expensive litigation over the causes of the collision, while providing quick payments for injuries or loss of property.
Liability insurance is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims and protects the insured if the purchaser is sued for claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy.
Personal injury protection (PIP) is an extension of car insurance available in some U.S. states that covers medical expenses and, in some cases, lost wages and other damages. PIP is sometimes referred to as "no-fault" coverage, because the statutes enacting it are generally known as no-fault laws, and PIP is designed to be paid without regard to "fault," or more properly, legal liability. That is, even if the person seeking PIP coverage caused the accident, they are entitled to make a claim under the PIP portion of their policy. "No-Fault" does not mean that insurance premium of the person making the claim will not increase. Typically a PIP claim is made by the insured driver to their own insurance company, however, there are several exceptions that allow persons who have been injured in an accident to make a PIP claim if they do not own a vehicle. The particular state law and policy language of the insurer should be reviewed to see what exceptions exist in that state.
Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind, or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. In common law jurisdictions the term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit in which the person bringing the suit has suffered harm to their body or mind. Personal injury lawsuits are filed against the person or entity that caused the harm through negligence, gross negligence, reckless conduct, or intentional misconduct, and in some cases on the basis of strict liability. Different jurisdictions describe the damages in different ways, but damages typically include the injured person's medical bills, pain and suffering, and diminished quality of life.
The Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) was founded in the UK in 1946 as a private company limited by guarantee and is the mechanism in the UK through which compensation is provided for victims of accidents caused by uninsured and untraced drivers, which is funded by an estimated £30 a year from every insured driver's premiums.
Auto insurance risk selection is the process by which vehicle insurers determine whether or not to insure an individual and what insurance premium to charge. Depending on the jurisdiction, the insurance premium can be either mandated by the government or determined by the insurance company in accordance to a framework of regulations set by the government. Often, the insurer will have more freedom to set the price on physical damage coverages than on mandatory liability coverages.
Assigned risk is a government-required method of providing insurance coverage to an individual by compelling insurance companies to service them when such companies would ordinarily not do so due to perceived risk of insuring the individual as a customer.
Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) in the US, is a form of liability insurance which helps protect professional advising, consulting, and service-providing individuals and companies from bearing the full cost of defending against a negligence claim made by a client in a civil lawsuit. The coverage focuses on alleged failure to perform on the part of, financial loss caused by, and error or omission in the service or product sold by the policyholder. These are causes for legal action that would not be covered by a more general liability insurance policy which addresses more direct forms of harm. Professional liability insurance may take on different forms and names depending on the profession, especially medical and legal, and is sometimes required under contract by other businesses that are the beneficiaries of the advice or service.
Negligent entrustment is a cause of action in United States tort law which arises where one party is held liable for negligence because they negligently provided another party with a dangerous instrumentality, and the entrusted party caused injury to a third party with that instrumentality. The cause of action most frequently arises where one person allows another to drive their automobile.
Diminished value or diminution in value are the terms generally used to describe the loss in a property's market value after it was damaged in an accident and repaired. Diminished value is most often associated with automobiles but it is applicable to other property of value including real estate or collectibles such as jewelry and artwork. If a property was damaged and repair failed to restore it to its original market value then said property has suffered diminished value.
Accident management is the centralised handling of a motorist’s claim following a road traffic collision or other damages or mishaps that happen to a vehicle while on or off road. It is a cost-effective intermediary service which assists drivers in getting back on the road quickly and in managing the claims process alone. Whilst it is significantly more cost-effective for the innocent motorist, the service costs significantly more as a result - a cost borne by the insurer of the 'at-fault' driver.
Vehicle insurance in the United States is designed to cover the risk of financial liability or the loss of a motor vehicle that the owner may face if their vehicle is involved in a collision that results in property or physical damage. Most states require a motor vehicle owner to carry some minimum level of liability insurance. States that do not require the vehicle owner to carry car insurance include New Hampshire and Mississippi, which offers vehicle owners the option to post cash bonds. The privileges and immunities clause of Article IV of the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of citizens in each respective state when traveling to another. A motor vehicle owner typically pays insurers a monthly or yearly fee, often called an insurance premium. The insurance premium a motor vehicle owner pays is usually determined by a variety of factors including the type of covered vehicle, marital status, credit score, whether the driver rents or owns a home, the age and gender of any covered drivers, their driving history, and the location where the vehicle is primarily driven and stored. Most insurance companies will increase insurance premium rates based on these factors and offer discounts less frequently.
The Ontario Automobile Policy is a regulation under the Ontario Insurance Act enacted by the Parliament of Ontario to cover financial damages to persons and property after a car crash. All private companies registered to sell auto insurance in Ontario, are required to use the OAP for their private car insurance policy. The OAP is the legal contract that connects an Ontario driver with every Ontario based insurance company.
Vehicle insurance in France is an compensation-based insurance policy for terrestrial motor vehicles that are insured in France and circulate on French territory, as well as in the European Economic Area and the Green Card zone.
In 1930, the UK Government introduced a law that required every person who used a vehicle on the road to have at least third-party personal injury insurance. Today, this law is contained in the Road Traffic Act 1988. Section 143 of that Act requires that motorists be insured against liability for injuries to others and for damage to other persons' property, resulting from use of a vehicle on a public road or in other public places.