Underinsured motorist claims are an important avenue to full compensation for people who suffer serious injuries from car crashes with drivers who do not carry adequate insurance to cover the damages they cause. When you or a family member are involved in a motor vehicle accident with an underinsured driver, hiring an experienced Illinois personal injury lawyer is strongly recommended.
Underinsured motorist coverage is one of the coverages you get when you buy full coverage on your own vehicle. It is triggered when you are involved in an auto accident with a driver who does not have enough insurance to cover the damages caused and has lower limits of liability than your underinsured motorist coverage. When that happens, your coverage steps into the shoes of the underinsured motorist and pays the damages that you are due, up to your policy limits.
By way of example, assume that you were rear-ended by a driver carrying the state minimum of liability insurance, $25,000 and that you sustained damages amounting to $45,000, while you had $100,000 in underinsured motorist coverage. The at-fault driver does not have enough insurance coverage to cover the amount of damages he caused, so he would be considered an underinsured driver, even though he carried the minimum amount of insurance legally required. By making an underinsured motorist claim, your insurance carrier would pay the additional $20,000 in damages you were entitled to recover. That would ensure that you were fully compensated for the injuries you sustained.
You can make an underinsured motorist claim even when you are not in the car for which the insurance was purchased at the time you were hurt. Underinsured motorist coverage is available to you even if you were a pedestrian who was hit by the underinsured motorist or were a passenger in the underinsured motorist’s vehicle.
We strongly recommend that anyone who has a valid basis for pursuing an underinsured motorist claim hire an experienced Illinois auto accident lawyer to assist them with the case. Most often, people who have reason to pursue an underinsured motorist claim have sustained serious injuries. Further, there are several technical requirements which must be followed in order to make an underinsured motorist claim and the failure to comply with the necessary steps may result in the loss of the claim.
Our firm frequently represents persons injured in accidents where there are underinsured motorist claims and can provide you with the assistance you need to make sure that you get the benefits you deserve. Please contact the experienced Chicago car accident lawyers at the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C. to assist you with your underinsured motorist claim.
