What happens when an uninsured motorist causes an accident?
With the vast number of drivers in the state of Florida, a small, yet alarming, percentage of drivers carry no car insurance. Some studies have even shown that around 1 out of 4 drivers in Florida are not carrying any insurance. What happens, then, when one of these uninsured drivers causes an accident which you are the victim of?
Traditionally, when you are injured in an accident, you will make a bodily injury claim against the at-fault party. When the at-fault party is completely uninsured, or fails to carry bodily injury coverage, you will have to consider alternative potential sources of recovery.
First, you can utilize your Personal Injury Protection (PIP), which will help with the initial medical costs and lost wages that were caused by the accident. Because PIP is required in Florida, this coverage should be available to you as long as you are driving with a valid car insurance policy. Beyond utilizing your PIP coverage, you can also make a claim against your uninsured motorist coverage (UM).
UM, however, is an optional coverage in Florida, which means that either you or your attorney will have to investigate into your policy as to whether it is available. Uninsured Motorist Coverage is one of the most important types of insurances that Florida drivers can carry because it helps protect the driver, whether or not the at-fault party has insurance or not.
Of course, technically under the law, even if there is no available insurance, you can still sue the at-fault party directly, where the at-fault party would have to personally pay for any damages associated with the accident. However, this is usually a failing endeavor because the at-fault party may not have any considerable assets to collect upon, and collecting on such a judgement is often costly and difficult to do.
Even if you are in an accident where the other party is uninsured, it is still highly advisable that you seek out an experience injury attorney, who will be able to investigate into every possible avenue of insurance for your accident. Lastly, although you would not be able to utilize it for this accident, you should consider purchasing uninsured motorist coverage on your auto policy, which would help in future accidents.
