What uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is for
Uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage step in when the driver who caused your accident doesn't have enough insurance, or any at all, to cover what you're owed. It's coverage you buy for yourself, paid out by your own insurer, even though the accident wasn't your fault. People usually start comparing UM/UIM quotes after being in an accident with an uninsured driver, after a hit-and-run, or simply after learning how many drivers on the road carry little or no coverage.
Some states require insurers to offer UM coverage and let you reject it in writing; a smaller number of states make it mandatory outright. Either way, it's worth understanding before you sign anything, since declining it is often a decision that sticks until your next renewal.
What it pays, and what it doesn't
- UM bodily injury: your medical bills, lost income and related costs when the at-fault driver has no insurance
- UIM bodily injury: the gap between what the at-fault driver's insurer pays and what your damages actually total
- UM property damage, where available: repairs to your car when an uninsured driver hits it, sometimes as an alternative to collision
- Coverage for passengers in your vehicle at the time of the accident, in most cases
- Hit-and-run situations, in many states, even though there's no identified driver to pursue
UM/UIM does not pay for damage you cause to someone else; that's liability. It also doesn't replace collision coverage for damage caused by something other than another driver, like hitting a fixed object on your own.
Limits, stacking and price
You choose UM/UIM limits, and many drivers match them to their liability limits so the protection is consistent in both directions. In states that allow stacking, you may be able to combine UM limits across multiple vehicles on the same policy, which increases the total available coverage without buying a separate policy. Whether stacking is available, and how it works, varies by state, so it's worth asking about directly.
Compared with liability or collision, UM/UIM is often a smaller piece of the total premium, since the price reflects how rarely a claim actually gets paid rather than the size of the risk. That makes it one of the areas where raising the limit tends to cost less than people expect, which is worth confirming with an actual quote rather than assuming.
Timing and what happens after you request quotes
If you're in an accident with an uninsured driver and don't have UM coverage in place, there's usually no way to add it after the fact and have it apply to that accident. The coverage has to be active before something happens, which is different from a coverage type you can shop for calmly after an event.
Deadlines for reporting a UM or UIM claim to your own insurer, and rules about needing your insurer's consent before you settle with the other driver, differ by state and by policy, so they're best confirmed directly with an agent rather than assumed from something you read online.
Once you submit the short form on this site, your request goes to licensed insurance agents and carriers who write policies in your state. They'll follow up with UM/UIM quotes at the limits you're considering, so you can compare options before deciding anything. There's no cost to ask and no obligation to buy.
