When a Driver Who Causes a Car Accident in Pennsylvania Is Underinsured
If you’ve been seriously injured by an underinsured motorist in Pennsylvania, it makes the path forward toward fair compensation that addresses your complete physical, financial, and emotional losses that much more complicated. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to offset your losses, and an experienced car accident attorney in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, can help.
What is Underinsurance
Underinsurance is insurance you purchase to protect yourself in the event an at-fault driver does not have enough insurance to cover your harm and losses.
Pennsylvania Is a No-Fault State
Pennsylvania is a no-fault state when it comes to car accidents, which means that every motorist is required to carry personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. If you’re injured in a car accident, filing your claim through your own PIP policy is designed to streamline the process.
If you’ve been seriously injured by another driver’s negligence, however, you can seek more comprehensive compensation through the at-fault driver’s liability coverage, which every driver is required to carry. When an at-fault driver fails to carry this coverage altogether or fails to carry enough, you can turn to your own underinsured motorist coverage.
All Hope Is Not Lost
Too many motorists fail to live up to their legal responsibilities when it comes to car insurance, which makes obtaining just compensation that much more difficult for those they harm in car accidents. If the driver who leaves you injured, however, doesn’t carry the liability they’re required to by law, a practiced car accident attorney has the legal insight to help you navigate the path forward toward fair compensation.
Your Underinsured Motorist Coverage
As a motorist in Pennsylvania, you’re very likely to carry underinsured motorist coverage. In fact, when you purchased your car insurance policy, the provider was required to offer this form of coverage to you, and the only way to deny it is in writing. This coverage addresses the full scope of your losses, including the following categories:
- Your medical expenses, which may extend into the future in relation to complications or secondary health concerns
- Your lost earnings, which may need to address damage to your career or losses related to your earning potential
- Your physical and emotional pain and suffering, which can eclipse each of your other losses combined
Whatever the other driver’s policy fails to cover, you can seek through your own UIM coverage.
UIM Policies Can Be Stacked
Even if your UIM policy doesn’t cover the full extent of your legal damages or losses, it’s important to know that these policies can be stacked. This means that the coverage for separate vehicles on the same policy or the coverage from separate policies that belong to the same household can be added together – thus increasing the total coverage for a single claim.
An Experienced Harrisburg Car Accident Attorney Can Help
The accomplished Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, car accident attorneys at Cunningham, Chernicoff & Warshawsky, P.C., are proud to fiercely advocate for the rights and the rightful compensation of all our clients – regardless of how complex the case and how many insurance policies are involved. Your case is important to your overall recovery, so please don’t put off reaching out and contacting us online or calling 717-260-3527 for more information today.