Seattle-Tacoma UIM/UM Injury Lawyers

Car accidents can cause large amounts of damage. With high speeds and thousands of pounds of force involved, the human body is extremely vulnerable to injury. Serious injuries can occur that require emergency care, surgery, therapy, rehabilitative care, counselling, vocational rehabilitation, or specialized doctor visits. In the most tragic accidents, deaths occur.

Minimum Insurance Limits Are Often Insufficient

There are many vehicle collisions that cause damage that exceeds insurance policy limits. In Washington State, the law only requires drivers to have $25,000 of liability insurance and many drivers only buy this minimum amount of coverage.

Many people do not realize how quickly medical care, lost wages, and other damages can add up. This saddles victims with the difficult task of acquiring the compensation needed to cover damages that are above the policy limits.

Unfortunately, there are also too many accidents involving uninsured drivers. This includes accidents where drivers do not pay for insurance, have allowed their insurance to lapse, or hit-and-run accidents where the at fault driver cannot be identified.

For these types of situations, it is very important to have Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist insurance coverage. In common parlance, this type of coverage is abbreviated as “UM” or “UIM”.

Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist Claims

While insurance policies vary between companies, many companies offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. With this coverage, you can make a claim on your own policy to get compensation for damages exceeding the faulty driver’s coverage.

Many people think that since they are paying their insurance company a lot of money for their policy, that their company will help them pay for all their damages from an accident. However, this is not typically the case.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims can be complicated. Many people may not even know they have the coverage or how to make a UIM claim. There are also circumstances when UIM coverage may come from another policy, such as a bicycle or pedestrian accident or if you are a passenger in a vehicle.