Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM)

Oregon automobile insurance policies require coverage for uninsured motorists (UM) and for underinsured motorists (UIM). In Washington, UM and UIM coverage is optional and must be rejected in writing by the insured. UM comes into play when a car is hit by a driver who has no insurance, who does a hit-and-run, or when there is an accident because of a phantom vehicle which does not make contact with any other vehicles and leaves the scene. Hit and run and phantom vehicle cases have certain witnessing and government reporting requirements. The insured has a claim against their own insurance company for UM benefits, which are the damages that the uninsured motorist owes to the insured up to the insured’s policy limit.

UIM comes into play when the damages caused by a driver exceed that driver’s policy limits and there is a UIM policy available on the car which was hit or on the person who is making the UIM claim. There are some statutory legal requirements for UIM claims to make sure that the insured perfects the UIM claim. Once perfected, the insured can recover the rest of the damages owed by the underinsured motorist up to the insured’s policy limit. Once a UIM claim is involved, finding an uninsured motorist lawyer is a good idea both because the injuries will be severe enough to trigger a second layer of coverage, and because of the complexity involved with uninsured motorist laws and PIP reimbursement.