The privilege of driving in the United States comes at a cost: you have to obtain a license showing you are proficient enough to operate a vehicle on public streets, and you also have to purchase insurance to give you financial backing in the event you cause an accident. However, not everyone adheres to these laws, specifically the law which mandates that you purchase coverage for any financial damage. When you are involved in an accident with one of these drivers, you may never be able to recover your losses.
This is where uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage comes in. This type of insurance is designed to step in and pay for the injuries to you and your passengers, possibly also including damage to your vehicle. However, many drivers think this is a needless expense and choose to forego it because they don’t think they’ll ever use it or that one of these unfortunate accidents won’t ever happen to them. Here are three big reasons why this is a mistake.
1. Lots of Drivers Don’t Have Insurance
Every state in the U.S. requires some form of financial protection and responsibility in order to drive. However, since you can’t discern an insured driver from an uninsured one while simply driving on the road, picking out the uninsured motorists is virtually impossible for law enforcement. This means a lot of drivers choose to gamble on not carrying insurance and hope they don’t get into an accident. Those who don’t want to take this gamble but save as much money as possible will carry the bare minimum in order to legally drive, which is nowhere near enough to pay the costs of anything more than a minor fender bender.
Uninsured motorists are everywhere, in fact it’s far more common than you might think. Some more aggressive estimates say that as many as about one in four drivers on the roads don’t have adequate insurance to cover them in the event of an accident. This means there’s a much higher chance of being hit by one of these drivers than you might think. Rather than leave yourself exposed to this risk, purchase uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. It only takes one accident with an uninsured driver and you’ll be thankful you did.
2. Accidents Are Expensive
Do you know how much the average cost of a car accident is these days? Costs are always rising, and with the amount of special technology that goes into modern vehicles even a minor fender bender can accrue bills of well in excess of $1,000. That’s not including any injuries; surging healthcare costs can make even minor injuries suddenly become unbelievably expensive. If the person who hits you doesn’t have adequate insurance coverage, you could be stuck footing the bill for an accident you didn’t cause.
Nobody wants to have to pay those kinds of costs, especially when the accident that caused them wasn’t even their fault. Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage makes sure you don’t have to.
3. It Doesn’t Cost Much
If you’re looking to save money or cut down on your monthly expenditures, you may be tempted to try cutting down on your insurance by waiving this coverage. What you may not realize is just how little it actually will cut down—uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage are not expensive. In fact, they cost just a few dollars more per month, and the benefits you could receive from them are immense.
In the long run, you may actually wind up paying far more money out of your own pocket in the event you are involved in an accident with an uninsured driver than you would if you paid the costs of uninsured motorist coverage for years, or even decades. This means an accident with an uninsured driver can actually place you in an even tougher financial situation than you might already be in. Save yourself the hassle, purchase and keep this coverage and there’s a good chance that one day you’ll be glad you did.
If you have been injured in a car accident, call a Waterbury car accident attorney from Fitzpatrick Santos Sousa Perugini, P.C. for a case evaluation! Dial 203.583.8299 to schedule an appointment or contact us online to get started!