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Uninsured motorist coverage is the part of your own auto policy that pays for your injuries when the driver who hit you carried no liability insurance, did not carry enough, or drove away. It exists on your policy because your insurer had to offer it to you unless you turned it down in writing.
Finding out that the person who caused your crash carried nothing is a sinking feeling, and the confusion that follows it is completely normal. Medical bills keep arriving on schedule while the question of who pays them looks like a dead end.
At Krebs Personal Injury Lawyers, we read auto policies for injured people and explain what their own coverage actually offers. One conversation is usually enough to tell you whether it applies to your crash.
Under Alabama Code Section 32-7-23, the state's uninsured motorist statute protects individuals who are legally entitled to recover damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle. Your own insurer effectively stands in for the driver who could not pay.
That means you open the claim with your own carrier rather than the other driver's. Your carrier then evaluates the injuries, the treatment, and the losses that the at-fault driver would have owed you.
The statute reaches bodily injury, sickness, disease, and death. It does not extend to the damage done to your vehicle.
Repairs usually fall to your collision coverage, or to the at-fault driver's property damage liability coverage when that driver had any. A single crash can involve two separate parts of your policy for two separate purposes.
This coverage generally extends past the person who signed the policy. Household family members and passengers riding in the covered vehicle are commonly protected under the same endorsement.
The policy wording controls the answer. That is why we ask to see the declarations page and the endorsement itself before telling anyone what they have.
It has to be offered. It does not have to be kept.
Under Alabama Code Section 32-7-23, every automobile liability policy issued for a vehicle registered in the state must include uninsured motorist protection unless the named insured rejects that coverage in writing. A rejection also carries forward: once you decline the coverage with an insurer, renewal policies from that same insurer need not include it unless you request it in writing.
Liability coverage is a different matter. State law bars anyone from operating or registering a vehicle designed for public roads unless liability insurance, a liability bond, or a cash deposit covers it. That requirement does not stop every driver from going without. When it fails, the coverage you bought for yourself is often the only insurance left in the picture.
The statute defines an uninsured motor vehicle more broadly than most drivers expect. Several situations qualify:
That fourth category surprises people most, because the other driver did have insurance.
Hit-and-run crashes belong in this conversation as well. The state insurance department describes uninsured motorist protection as coverage that pays when a hit-and-run driver or a driver with no auto insurance injures you.
Consider a rear-end collision in which the at-fault driver carries $25,000 in bodily injury coverage, and your hospital bill alone is $60,000. That driver is underinsured, and your own coverage is what addresses the shortfall.
If you are already trading calls with an adjuster and cannot tell which coverage applies to your crash, we can read the policy with you and explain what it says. Call Krebs Personal Injury Lawyers at 205-634-1000 for a free case evaluation.
The minimum auto liability limits are listed by the Alabama Department of Insurance as:
Those figures were set for a different era of medical costs. An ambulance ride, an emergency room stay, and one surgery can add up to $25,000 before rehabilitation is even scheduled.
Underinsured motorist coverage is the same protection working in a different situation. It applies when the driver who hit you did carry insurance, but not enough to cover what you lost.
Most policies pair the two, which is why uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist coverage are often abbreviated together as UM/UIM on a declarations page. Seeing that line item is a good sign, though the limits beside it matter just as much.
Uninsured motorist limits track the minimum policy limits set out in Section 32-7-6 of the Alabama Code. Many drivers carry exactly that figure and never revisit the decision.
Higher limits are available on request. Your agent can quote the cost of the increase against what it would add if a serious crash ever happens.
When a household insures more than one vehicle under a single policy, those coverages can sometimes be combined. The same statute caps that combination at the primary coverage plus no more than two additional vehicle coverages in a single contract.
In practical terms, three coverages is the ceiling. A family with four insured vehicles on one policy does not get four.
A claim against your own insurer follows a path of its own. The steps generally look like the following:
The relationship shifts at that last step, because the company evaluating the claim is the one you have been paying.
Policies contain notice provisions, and late notice hands a carrier an argument it would not otherwise have. Reporting early costs you nothing.
Early notice also gives your carrier a chance to preserve evidence while the vehicles and the scene are still documented.
Section 6-2-38 of the Alabama Code requires that actions for injury to the person be brought within two years. Your policy may impose its own, earlier notice requirements on top of that.
Waiting until the deadline is close leaves no room for the back-and-forth these claims often involve. We would rather look at a file early than explain a missed deadline later.
A few avoidable missteps come up again and again:
None of these ends a claim on its own, and none of them mean you did anything wrong. Insurers evaluate these claims much the way they evaluate a claim brought by a stranger, so a complete record from the start puts you on firmer footing.
These are the questions our team hears most often after a crash with an uninsured driver.
No. Under Alabama Code Section 32-7-23, the statute covers bodily injury, sickness, disease, and death, so vehicle repairs fall to collision coverage or to the at-fault driver's property damage liability coverage.
Usually, yes. This coverage is written to apply when a fleeing or unidentified driver injures you, though your policy may require prompt reporting to law enforcement.
Check the declarations page of your auto policy for a UM or UM/UIM line item. We can also read the policy with you and confirm the limits.
Passengers in a covered vehicle are commonly protected under the same endorsement. The policy language controls apply, so both the declarations page and the endorsement should be reviewed.
Sometimes. State law limits recovery under one contract to the primary coverage plus no more than two additional vehicle coverages.
Personal injury actions are subject to a 2-year deadline under Alabama Code Section 6-2-38, and your policy may impose an earlier notice requirement. Both matter, so confirming the timing early is essential.
The statute's four categories of uninsured motor vehicles cover more crashes than most drivers realize, including those involving drivers who simply did not carry enough coverage. Whether your claim fits one of them depends on the policy language and on the facts of the collision, and neither is something you should have to sort out from a hospital bed.
Krebs Personal Injury Lawyers represents injured people from our Tuscaloosa office. We read the policy, identify all coverage that may apply, and handle the adjuster so you can focus on treatment.
We take these claims on a contingency-fee basis, and the case evaluation costs nothing. Having a lawyer involved early means the policy gets read correctly and the deadlines get tracked, rather than discovered after they have passed.
Call our team at 205-634-1000 or reach us through our contact page for a free case evaluation.
J.R. is dedicated to providing personalized representation, avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach. He tailors his strategy to the unique challenges and needs of each client and case, ensuring focused and individualized attention.
His practice mainly covers Plaintiff’s Personal Injury, including car and 18-wheeler accidents, slips and falls, dog bites, defective products, and wrongful death. He also handles commercial disputes on contingency, with experience in contracts, construction, and probate. For any dispute headed toward litigation, J.R. develops an aggressive strategy to maximize your recovery through negotiation, arbitration, or trial.
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