Underinsured Motorist Claim
If the driver at fault has liability insurance that is insufficient to pay for your damages, you may make an underinsured motorist claim if you have underinsured motorist coverage. This is tricky. Say, for example, the driver also has a $15,000.00 policy. If you have a $15,000.00 underinsured motorist coverage, there is no applicable underinsured motorist coverage. However, if you have a $25,000.00 underinsured motorist policy, you will then have $10,000.00 in additional insurance coverage to pay or compensate you for your damages. A prerequisite to filing a underinsured motorist claim is to settle or resolve your underlying claim for the bodily injury policy limits, obtain a declaration page from the driver at fault indicating that they have tendered the entire bodily injury limits, show a settlement release proving you have accepted the bodily injury policy limits, and sometimes, they may require that there be a declaration indicating that the driver at fault had no additional or excess or umbrella insurance coverage that may be applicable to the accident.
Most motorcycle clients do not have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. As such, the UM or UIM coverage will not kick in to pay for additional damage that you have suffered at the hands of the uninsured or underinsured motorist.
