01/15/2025
Uninsured Driver Claims
A recent accident I was involved in educated me a bit more about Uninsured Driver Claims or Uninsured Motorist Claims.
I had parked my vehicle in the post office and was returning to it to leave and go to my office. As I approached my jeep another SUV BMW tried to back down the lot going the wrong way and struck my Jeep taking out my front door and caused several thousand dollars in damage. I did he typical things like photographed the position of the vehicles and photographed the other driver’s Illinois license and the tag on his vehicle. I also took a photo of his State Farm Insurance card given to me by the other driver.
All was proceeding well when suddenly he mentioned that he preferred not to use his insurance but pay cash for the damage to my Jeep. I got suspicious that something was wrong. After he said he would pay for the damages and to provide an estimated of the repairs to him as soon as possible.
After returning to my office, I called the State Farm claims number who then set up a claims number. Unfortunately, State Farm called me back to say that there was no insurance coverage on this vehicle. At this point I thought it best to make an uninsured motorist claim with my insurance company. I really did not want to make any kind of claim but proceeded anyway. When making a UM claim your insurance company will subrogate the claim and go after the person who was at fault.
I have a $1000.00 deductible on my Jeep which I would have to use even though this was an uninsured motorist claim. To my surprise my insured company advise me that my deductible would be reduced to $250.00 because this was under my uninsured motorist policy. Additionally, under the uninsured policy I was entitled to make a claim for diminished value. Diminished value is the amount value lost in any vehicle that has been in an accident.
So please check with your insurance company to see if there is a reduction in your deductible for UM Claims and if you can claim diminished value.
If you any question about an uninsured motorist claim please call me at my law office at 410-465-1188.
