What is Pennsylvania Underinsured Motorist Coverage?

Pennsylvania Underinsured Motorist Coverage is a coverage that you buy from your insurance company. If you’ve purchase underinsured motorist coverage and you’re injured in a car accident caused by a driver who doesn’t have enough insurance coverage to make you whole, then your insurance company will make up the difference between the total value of your case and the coverage that the at-fault driver purchased.

Consider this scenario: You are hit from behind and injured. Your case, including lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering, is worth $100,000. The driver who hit you only has $15,000 in coverage. If you bought underinsured motorist coverage, your insurance company will make up the difference and pay you $85,000 (assuming that you purchased at least $85,000 in underinsured motorist coverage).

How much your case is worth is often a subject of dispute between injured people and their insurance companies. Sometimes, injured people don’t know how much their injuries are worth and they’re not sure if they should trust their insurance company. (They’re right to be skeptical of their insurance company. See, for example, our real-life stories about the insurance company that claimed not to know its own coverage and the insurance company whose evaluation increased by over 600%.) Moreover, injured people often don’t know how to make the insurance company pay when the insurance company refuses to be fair on its own.