By Andrew R. Bronsnick
If you ride a motorcycle, here’s one thing you want to make certain you have—the maximum coverage on your own motor vehicle insurance for uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist coverage.
What Is Uninsured And Underinsured Motorists’ Coverage?
With almost every motor vehicle insurance policy, there’s an additional rider that can be purchased (for an additional premium) that provides additional coverage to you should be involved in an accident with a driver who either has no insurance or has limited insurance. It’s a very good idea, as a biker, to purchase this additional coverage, as any injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident will likely be serious. As a result, even if the other driver has insurance, if your injuries are extensive, you may exhaust the limits of liability before all your losses are covered.
There’s a fundamental difference between uninsured motorists and underinsured motorists coverage. An uninsured motorists provision applies when the other driver had no insurance to cover the costs of any injury or property damage. An underinsured motorists’ provision is designed to address those situations where the amount of coverage the at-fault party has will not cover all the losses incurred. For example, you may have traumatic brain injury or spinal cord trauma, with projected costs of health care or other needs of hundreds of thousands of dollars or even a million dollars or more. If the person who cause the accident had a cap of $50,000 on liability for any accident, you may need to pursue a claim against your own policy to get the benefits you need.