What happens in an accident with an uninsured driver?

On Behalf of | Jan 7, 2020 | Personal Injury

Even though the law in Pennsylvania requires all drivers to carry a minimum amount of auto insurance, there are still drivers who drive without it. If you happen to get into an accident with one of these drivers, you may wonder what happens. Since your auto insurer will typically pay for accidents that you cause, who will pay for the accident a non-insured driver causes? 

The good news is that the state requires uninsured motorist coverage as part of your insurance policy. This will help quite a bit. The Insurance Information Institute explains that generally the person at fault will pay for the accident, but someone with no insurance is most likely to not have assets with which to use to pay for the damage. It is often difficult to recovery money without having to go to court to garnish wages and seize assets. 

For your immediate assistance, your insurance policy will pay for your damages if you have proper uninsured motorist coverage. Depending on the type of coverage that you have, your policy may pay for the damages to your vehicle, any medical bills you or passengers incur and lost wages if you need time off work to recover. Just make sure to report the accident to your insurer as soon as possible after it happens. 

Once you have your immediate needs covered, you can then work on holding the other person responsible and going after him or her for any payments your insurer made to cover the damages from the accident.

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