Uninsured Motorist Coverage for Motorcyclists

Video Transcript:

Cindy Speaker: What is uninsured motorist coverage as it relates to motorcyclist?  That’s our topic for today’s episode of Main Street Law.  I’m Cindy Speaker.  My guest is Indiana motorcycle injury lawyer Randy Sevenish of Sevenish Law in Indianapolis, Indiana. So Randy, how are you today?

Randy Sevenish: I’m great Cindy how about yourself?

Cindy Speaker: Pretty good, thanks.  Well, Randy as I understand that knowing insurance coverage inside and out is an important part of a personal injury practice.  And I know there is a coverage called uninsured motorist coverage, but let me ask you this, what is uninsured motorist coverage and is it important for motorcyclist to carry?

Randy Sevenish: Well, I will tell, Cindy.  Uninsured motorist coverage or what we call UM coverage, for short, is one of the most overlooked and most important types if coverages that bikers can have, and aside from liability coverage that protects the biker when they themselves are at fault.  There’s just no other more important coverage for those riding motorcycles than uninsured motorist coverage, other than perhaps under insured coverage which is at least equally as important.  So to answer your question, UM coverage protects you and the people you love when a wrong doer is at fault and has no insurance and no assets or means to otherwise compensate you.  So in that, case you have in essence purchased insurance coverage before a crash for the uninsured driver.

Cindy Speaker: Okay.  Now, is that something that all motorcycles have, is it mandated by law?

Randy Sevenish: Well, amazingly, the answers are no and no.  Insurance agents in my state, at least, are required only to offer UM coverage but believe it or not, the law does not require it.  So bikers can choose not to have it by waiving the coverage in writing which is a very, very big mistake.  And in my practice in recent years I found a very troubling trend of bikers choosing not to have this very valuable form of coverage, thinking that they are saving money.  The problem comes up is when bikers are injured by an uninsured driver and the bikers themselves have no UM coverage.  They can of course still sue the uninsured driver, but usually these people fail to have sufficient assets to go after and the uninsured driver can also file bankruptcy, and the injured bikers still gets nothing.

So whether you call it a big mistake, an error in judgment or just a simple lack of understanding or knowledge, it makes no difference.  Do not ride without this coverage.

Cindy Speaker: Okay.  Now, let me ask this.  How much do you recommend that a biker have in terms of UM coverage?

Randy Sevenish: Well, that really depends but mostly upon the amount of risk that they are willing to take and gamble with.  And unlike liability coverage, which is intended to pay someone else for their injuries caused by the biker’s negligence, UM coverage provides compensations to the motorcyclist themselves, to their family members, passengers, etcetera, when injured by an uninsured person.  So, for that reason alone, it just make sense to purchase at least as much UM coverage as they have in what’s called liability coverage.  We strongly recommend that based upon their assets and comfort level that they should have at least $250,000.00 per person and $500,000.00 per accident.  And although probably beyond the scope of this question, if they also own a home and indeed have coverage on their bike for 250, 500, they should also consider securing what’s called an umbrella policy of one to two million dollars for just a couple of hundred more dollars annually.

Cindy Speaker: Okay.  Now, let me ask you this.  Suppose that someone has auto UM coverage, is that going to be have any help to them if they don’t have it where their motorcycle and maybe there is an accident that occurs?

Randy Sevenish: Be very careful here.  It really depends upon the ownership of the vehicle their on when this happens.  Many motorcyclists include their bike on the same policy as their car, truck and even homeowners, but some choose to have a completely different company to insure their bike for some reason.  And the general rule is that UM coverage follows you wherever you go.  So that means that whether you’re in your vehicle or someone else’s vehicle or in their truck, your truck, bicycle, moped, motorcycle or even if you re jogging down the road.  So typically, UM coverage follows you, but most companies will exclude UM coverage if it is not specifically covered on the motorcycle owned by you without first paying for that coverage.  So it’s best just to have UM coverage on all vehicles you own, period.  When in doubt, get with your agent and just read the fine print because as I’ve always said the big print give it and the small print take it away.

Cindy Speaker: That’s a great line and so true.  Randy, if someone wants more information, how can they reach you?

Randy Sevenish: Certainly, they can call me directly at 1-800-278-9200 or online at www.sevenishlaw.com.

Cindy Speaker: Randy, thanks so much for your time today.

Randy Sevenish: Thank you, Cindy.

Cindy Speaker: Until next time.  This is Cindy Speaker for Main Street Law.

Hit & Run Accidents

Video Transcript:
Cindy: What can a person do if they were struck by a hit and run driver in South Carolina-that’s our topic for today’s episode of Main Street Law TV News. I’ve asked South Carolina personal injury lawyer, George Sink of George Sink Injury Lawyers to be my guest today. So George, thank you for being with me.

George: Thank you for having me, Cindy.

Cindy: My pleasure. Well George, what can a person do if they were struck by a hit and run driver in South Carolina?

George: Well, the funny thing is they—in South Carolina, you must have an uninsured motorist coverage and that coverage covers you against people who either hit or run or they hit you and they don’t have any insurance, so it’s uninsured motorist coverage, but the legislature was wary of a situation where someone comes out of a bar and has too much to drink maybe and then drives off the road and hits a tree and says, “Someone made a pass at me and I swerved to avoid them and went off the road. I want to make a recovery against my uninsured motorist coverage.”

So in order to make a recovery, you have to do three things before you’re entitled to have a claim and those three things in our state are—you have to make all reasonable efforts to determine the identity of the car or driver. Second, you’ve got to call the police or the right authorities and report the collision in a reasonable amount of time and then it gets a little tricky, but if you have an impact between the two cars, ones that rules apply and if there is no impact, that’s the, “I went off the road, hit the tree,” thing. There is no impact, you have to have the right sort of witness to make the right sort of affidavit to allow you to have a UM claim—uninsured motorist.

So you’re not entitled to it even though you have the coverage. You have to go through this series of requirements and then you can proceed.

Cindy: Now uninsured motorist coverage that you speak of, is that mandated by state? In other words, would every person be carrying that in South Carolina?

George: Yes, it is required and everybody has it and it’s wonderful because it helps you. So I advocate everybody getting as much of that as possible. It’s really good!

Cindy: Okay and what about in other states, George?

George: The same thing. Because it covers that same contingency, but there’s the same set of policy constraints involved because the legislatures of the states which are influenced by the insurance companies and probably rightly so probably have some requirements that you have to meet before you’re entitled to file a UM claim properly and that’s to avoid people trying to trick them or I hit the tree, so I’ll get paid and most people think that’s not a good idea if you’d been drinking a lot and there really wasn’t anything. So you have to guard against that and that’s why these requirements are in place, these hurdles, you have to go over to allow yourself to legally file and process and collect from uninsured motorist coverage.

Cindy: Well, that makes sense and George, if someone comes to you, is that something that you can help them with?

George: We do this all the time, yes.

Cindy: Alright and how can they reach you for more information

George: George Sink Injury Lawyers is at 1-800-849-SINK. That’s toll free, 1-800-849-SINK and our website is www.sinklaw.com.

Cindy: Very good. Well George, thanks again for your time today.

George: Cindy, thank you for having me.

Cindy: This is Cindy Speaker reporting for State Law TV.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage

Video Transcript:

Cindy Speaker: What is uninsured motorist coverage?  That’s our topic for this episode of Main Street Law.  I’m Cindy Speaker and my guest today is South Carolina personal injury attorney, George Sink of George Sink Injury Lawyers.  George, how are you today?

George Sink: I’m terrific.  How are you, Cindy?

Cindy Speaker: I’m good, thank you.  George, let’s jump right in here.  What is uninsured motorist coverage?

George Sink: Uninsured motorist coverage is a way of recovering when you’ve been injured by someone who cause an accident and damage to you while they were uninsured.

Cindy Speaker: Now, does everyone have that type of coverage, is it mandated by the state?

George Sink: Yes, it is!  But the funny thing is, you really don’t have a claim unless you go through some sort of ritual, but it is mandatory by the state to have this and it’s wonderful to have a lot of it.

Cindy Speaker: So does that mean that you recommend carrying more uninsured motorist coverage than what the state requires?

George Sink: Absolutely, it’s very cheap and it helps you, so often times, what you really need is a lot of it to protect you from someone who has injured you who doesn’t have enough.

Cindy Speaker: And in South Carolina, what would that recommendation be?

George Sink: As much as your company will allow, every company is different.  I have a million dollars on mine.

Cindy Speaker: And that’s affordable?

George Sink: Yes, it’s the cheapest you can buy and it helps you.

Cindy Speaker: What if the driver is a victim of a hit and run accident?  Would he use uninsured motorist coverage in that situation?

George Sink: Absolutely!  It’s just what’s involved in that.  The funny thing is, it’s complicated.  The statute says, basically you don’t have an uninsured claim unless you do three things and you have to read the statute carefully, but you have to report it to the police authority promptly, so it has to be reported to the police and you have to have physical contact with the other person or a witness and the witness is a very special sort of person and I don’t have time to go into it, but it’s complicated.  And you have to get an affidavit that’s filled out in a certain way and the third part of it is, you can’t be negligent in determining the identity of the person.

So if you’re in a collision, you feel okay and you let him go, you’re not going to have an uninsured motorist claim because you were negligent in not getting their name and identity so we can recover from them.

Cindy Speaker: That makes sense.  One final thing, George.  What recommendation do you have to someone who after listening to this wants to reevaluate the matter if they’re uninsured motorist coverage?

George Sink: I would get as much of this as possible and the reason is simple, it helps you.  If someone hurts you, they don’t have enough money to pay for the damage to you, this will pay for it.  Nothing could be better for you than to do this and it is cheap!  So Cindy, I couldn’t recommend this any more than I am right now, buy it, buy as much as you can!

Cindy Speaker: I think I’ll be calling my insurance company later today.  George, if somebody wants to get in touch with you, how can they do that?

George Sink: They can call 1-800—849-SINK or they can go to the website which is www.sinklaw.com.

Cindy Speaker: Thank you, George.  Until next time, this is Cindy Speaker for State Law TV.