As an Attorney who has specialized in Personal Injury Law for the past 27 years in Los Angeles I've interviewed thousands of people who have been injured in motor vehicle accidents. It never ceases to amaze me just how many of these people either do not carry any uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, or simply don't carry enough.

Let's first start with the distinction between uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage is insurance that you purchase as part of your automobile liability policy that covers the occupants of your vehicle in the event that the negligent party who caused the accident did not carry any coverage. In practical terms, your uninsured motorist carrier steps into the shoes of the uninsured person who caused the accident, and becomes his/her coverage for the purposes of the claim.

A common concern that I hear from clients when discussing their pursuit of an uninsured motorist claim is "I don't want to make a claim against my insurance company. They will raise my premiums!" This is absolutely 100% false. The "UM" Claim is only viable if the uninsured party is found to be "at fault", which means that any payment to the insured by their UM Carrier is an admission that the insured was NOT at fault, and therefore not at risk for having their premiums raised. A sigh of relief almost always follows this explanation.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage is that coverage which "kicks in" after the negligent party's insurance carrier has tendered it's policy limits which are inadequate to compensate the insured for his/her injuries. The UM Limits though must exceed those of the defendants policy limits in order for coverage to apply. Here is an example of how this works:

Bob is insured with State Farm and has UM limits of $100,000.00. He is rear ended in a terrible accident with Joe who is insured with AAA. Joe's liability limits are only $15,000.00. Bob's medical bills alone are $20,000.00. He also has thousands of dollars in lost earnings. In this case it is likely that AAA will offer to pay Joe's policy limits of $15,000.00 to settle the case on Joe's behalf. If Bob accepts that offer he can then make a claim for Underinsured Motorist Benefits with State Farm for up to $85,000.00 ($100,000.00 minus $15,000.00 received from State Farm).

Based on the above-referenced example you can see how important it is to have sufficient UM Coverage. One day in the hospital can start at $10,000.00. I always tell my clients to purchase as much UM Coverage as they can afford because this coverage is essential. I am amazed by how many insurance policies I see where there is either no UM Coverage or coverage that is substantially less than the liability coverage. I always say the same thing to these people: "Do you realize that you are insuring people you don't know and don't care about for significantly more (sometimes as much as $100,000.00 more) than you and your loved ones who are traveling in your car. I always get the same response: "I'm going to call my agent as soon as I leave your office and increase my coverage".

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