Nothing can ruin a person’s day like a car accident. One minute, it’s just another day on the road. The next minute, your car has been damaged and perhaps you’ve suffered injuries. What do you do if you discover that the other driver does not have liability insurance?
Auto insurers offer uninsured motorist coverage for just this scenario. If you elect this coverage, you would be able to submit a claim to your insurance company to cover the damage that the uninsured motorist is at fault for. The alternative is to try to sue the uninsured motorist for the damages, but there is a good chance that they would have little to no assets to collect. By electing uninsured motorist coverage, you elect to be covered if an uninsured motorist causes you damage on the road.
When properly insured motorists suffer damage in uninsured motorist crashes, these motorists are strongly advised to submit their uninsured motorist claims to their insurance companies as soon as possible. This will hopefully prevent the insured motorist’s claim from being denied for waiting too long. After the claim is submitted, the insurance company will assign an adjuster to investigate both the accident and the insured motorist’s coverage. Depending on a number of circumstances, the claim will either be accepted or denied.
If a claim is denied, the insured party has the option to challenge the decision. The relationship between the insurance company and the insured party is governed both by the agreement between the two and also by Pennsylvania state law. Insurance companies must honor their commitments under both contract and law.