Uninsured Motorist (UM)

Uninsured motorist coverage (UM) protects you when you are injured in an accident caused by a driver who has no auto insurance at all -- or by a hit-and-run driver who leaves the scene before you can get their information. Without UM coverage, your only recourse against an at-fault uninsured driver is to sue them personally, which is often fruitless since drivers without insurance typically also lack the assets to satisfy a judgment.

The scale of the uninsured driver problem is larger than most people realize. Industry data consistently estimates that 12 to 14 percent of U.S. drivers have no auto insurance. In Georgia, the rate is similar to the national average. That means roughly one in eight drivers sharing the road with you at any given moment has no coverage to pay for the damage they cause. If one of them runs a red light and puts you in the hospital with $60,000 in medical bills and three months of missed work, UM coverage is the mechanism that pays your claim -- not their nonexistent policy.

UM coverage applies to bodily injury (your medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering) and in some states also to property damage (your vehicle damage). Georgia requires insurers to offer UM coverage, and unless you sign a written rejection, it is included in your policy at limits that match your liability coverage. Many policyholders accept a carrier's offer to reduce UM limits to save premium without fully understanding what they are trading away. Reducing UM limits from $100,000 to $25,000 to save $80 per year is a poor trade in any market where uninsured drivers are common.

Hit-and-run scenarios are where UM becomes especially critical. If an unidentified driver sideswiped your parked car and fled, or a phantom vehicle caused you to crash while avoiding it, collision coverage handles your vehicle damage but UM bodily injury coverage handles your injury claim. Most policies require that a hit-and-run be reported to police promptly to be eligible for UM. File the report, document the scene, and notify your insurer the same day -- the procedural requirements matter when a UM claim is involved.