Drivers of all vehicles registered in Georgia are required by law to purchase insurance for their respective vehicles. The insurance will make sure that the driver or passengers of the vehicle will get enough coverage in case of an accident.
The insurance will also cover the injuries or property damages incurred by the aggrieved person. However, this depends on the policy that the vehicle owner had signed up.
But what will happen if you are involved in an accident with a driver who does not have enough coverage to shoulder all your medical expenses? Is the driver obliged by law to shell out the money from his or her own pocket to pay for your hospitalization and other injury-related expenses?
Any accident involving an uninsured motorist can be problematic when talking about claims and compensation. The injured person may have difficulty asking for compensation for all the damages he or she had incurred if the driver involved in the accident has no insurance, or if there is, may not fully cover the damages.
The law in Georgia requires all drivers to carry minimum amounts of liability auto insurance. It is the insurance company who will pay for the bodily injury or property damage incurred on the aggrieved person. So in case you got involved in an accident, determine how much liability coverage the driver has.
However, when upon checking, you learned that the driver does not have auto insurance or does not have enough liability coverage, your only option would be to claim compensation from your own insurance company. But that will happen only if you purchased uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage from your insurance company.
Under Georgia law, the UM/UIM insurance policy covers a driver’s minimum liability of $25,000 per person for bodily injury; $50,000 per accident for bodily injury; and $25,000 per accident for property damage. However, if aside from yourself, other persons riding in your vehicle also got injured, the minimum liability will not be enough to compensate you all.
Insurance companies are required by law to make UM/UIM available when you purchase your insurance. And in case you bought UN/UIM, you can claim for compensation in case you got injured by a driver who does not have insurance or does not have enough liability coverage.
But just a word of caution: this process is not easy. You need the help of a lawyer who knows how to handle this kind of situation. And in Georgia, Atty. Allen Bodiford is the perfect guy for this.
Atty. Bodiford is a top-caliber lawyer who has been practicing law for more than 25 years in Stockbridge. One of his specializations is providing personal injury legal services to those who have been injured due to negligence by another person.
Atty. Bodiford will orient you on how you can avail of the UM/UIM coverage from your insurance company, which is applicable if you are injured in an accident involving an uninsured driver, a driver who does not have enough coverage to compensate all those injured, and an unidentified driver who ran away after the accident.
Atty. Bodiford will make sure that you get compensated for what had happened while making sure that the driver will be held liable.
Bodiford Law Group serves clients in Conyers, Covington, Griffin, Jackson, Jonesboro, McDonough, and Stockbridge. If you are injured in an accident involving an uninsured driver, call Atty. Bodiford now for a free consultation.
