why is there insurance against uninsured drivers?
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If you don’t have uninsured driver insurance, and an uninsured driver hits you, then you, or your next of kin in the event of your death, need to go after the individual personal assets on your own, which includes you hiring lawyers, doctors, etc, to make a claim and then take it to court.
Best case scenario some decently well off middle class person who is capable of making a settlement hits you, if it’s someone with too much money, you’ll likely see nothing as they can afford lawyers to fight it in court until you run out of money.
But most likely, it’s somebody with no money, so you’re better of trying to extract gold from your drinking water.
If you have uninsured driver insurance, and an uninsured driver hits you, then the insurance company compensated you per your policy, and then they’re on the hook to get their money from the uninsured driver.
So eli5? There’s some idiots that drive without insurance, and it protects your from the hassle of chasing them down for compensation.
That is to protect you in case somebody is uninsured or underinsured. It is a very good thing to have because it’s the cheapest health insurance you will ever get. During your prime years this is extremely important. So is PIP coverage. The PIP coverage comes into effect regardless of fault and is often paid out long before anything else. It is a Goodwill coverage and it is often called by different names. It can cover the guests in your car right down to if they break their glasses and the amount paid out in PIP is over and above any other limits in the policy.
I think this question might stem from a misunderstanding about how car insurance works.
If someone hits you, your insurance doesn’t cover it. The person who hits you is responsible, assuming they have insurance. If they don’t have insurance, you are screwed. The latter is what insurance against uninsured drivers is for.
I’m your insurance company. I know you. I built a relationship with you. So I’ll insure you because you’re a good person. If you’re at fault – no worries I’ll cover the costs cause that’s what you pay me for and I like you.
But if the other guy causes the accident? Well I don’t know him. I don’t like him. I never agreed to insure everyone on the road, just you. So you need to ask his insurance to pay.
He’s at fault. Oh he doesn’t have insurance? You’re going to have to take him to court and handle this civilly. It’s not my responsibility to cover anyones mistakes but yours.
But… if you pay me more I can cover everyone else’s too just in case. If I pay a lot for someone else’s mistakes then I’ll sue them to get the money back. Don’t worry. I got you covered jack, you just gotta pay me a little more.
The other answers have explained why you need UM coverage, but I think what you’re really asking is “why is it possible for somebody to be on the road driving around uninsured?”
It is because owning and having physical access to a car is completely separate from the process of having a license, insurance and registration. It is possible to have these things expire, but nobody is immediately going to come over to your house and take your car keys away from you. It’s legal to own an uninsured car as long as you don’t drive it anywhere, lol.
There are also people on the road who cannot get a license/insurance for various reasons. Certain criminal records, DUI, immigration status, poverty, etc.
The police don’t typically intervene, unless they have a reason to, and that’s often long after you’ve already caused an accident. So, unfortunately, it’s largely on the honor system.
Because it is a lucrative thing for companies to sell. Few people are in accidents, and fewer still with uninsured motorists so odds are strong that most people will pay into this and never get a payout, so pure profit from most customers. Then those that do need it will be lowballed at every point, keeping the payouts to a minimum.
I don’t think I’ve seen this mentioned but in my state (Florida) and likely many others it’s uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. In Florida, if you’re in a car accident I’d say there’s a greater than 50% chance the other driver has either No bodily injury coverage or something nominal like 10k or 25k. Your UM/UIM coverage will apply beyond that. This is important in that your compensation (bills / lost pay/ pain and suffering / future bills) is capped (most times) at the other drivers limits (potentially less if there are multiple parties). And the best part of Florida, certain for profit hospitals are now charging $12-$15k for CT / CAT scans. I’ve seen minor accidents result in $50k hospital bill alone.
Source – lawyer in the god awful insurance scam of a state – Florida.
there’s a ton of other rabbit holes here, but long story short, always carry UM.
There is a lot of need for it where I’m from. Lot of people driving without insurance or stolen vehicles.
If someone hits you in the US there’s about a 1/7 chance that they do not have car insurance. It’s illegal, but still common.
If they don’t have car insurance, you better believe they don’t have the ability to pay for the damages.
Uninsured driver coverage means that your insurance will compensate you even though the other driver should be liable.
If you don’t have this coverage, you will have to try to collect from the other driver (sue them to garnish wages, etc) but this is like getting blood from a stone.
Because people drive without insurance and get into car accidents. Also, depending on the situation they may not have enough coverage so under insured is also a thing as well. The thing is, nothing stops a person from jumping behind the wheel of a car except knowledge or keys if lack of knowledge. This means about anyone can drive including a 8 year old who obviously wouldn’t have insurance nor a license even. Now, if your car got hit by a uninsured person, can you imagine being told “yeah your car is totaled, but they have no insurance so sucks to be you!”. Yeah you would be pissed, hence that kind of insurance solves the problem.
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