Underinsured Motorist Claims—Calculating Your Right to Extra Coverage

It’s Maryland law for drivers with registered vehicles to have liability insurance. While you may be a responsible driver, this doesn’t mean that others are driving with full insurance. This can lead to convoluted insurance claims if there’s an accident. While this can be overwhelming to deal with on one’s own, there are people out there who can help you. Belsky & Horowitz, LLC can help you if you’re facing the challenges of an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim or in Baltimore.

What Can You Do to Protect Yourself in an Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist Claim?

There are many factors to consider when you’re filing an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim. You may find that the other party is trying to assign some of the liability to you. By doing this, they will not have to accept 100% of the damages and you won’t be able to recover full compensation. Your attorneys will fight to show that you weren’t responsible for what happened and deserve a fair settlement.

Before there’s a need for filing an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim, you may want to check your insurance policy to see what is covered. While there is minimum of coverage required in Maryland to cover possible accidents with uninsured or underinsured motorists, this may not always be enough. If you’re wondering if there are ways that you can make your insurance policy more secure, you may want to go over your policy so you fully understand what it does and doesn’t cover.

You may want to consider looking at the difference between stacked and unstacked insurance. When a policy has stacking, your coverage limits can be combined within one policy or sometimes more than one. An unstacked policy doesn’t do this, so your limit is as listed. Looking into the benefits of each one may help you get the best policy for you in case of an uninsured motorist crash.

The Penalties for Driving Uninsured

While many know that driving without insurance is illegal, it doesn’t stop people from doing so. You may be wondering why people choose to drive without insurance even though it can lead to so many complications later.

The cost of insurance may be what keeps people from having it. They think they’re saving money but they’re really creating a larger problem for themselves. While a car accident can be costly, if both parties have insurance then they can proceed to move through the claims process. People have insurance to cover these emergency situations. It’s much more costly to drive without insurance because if you’re involved in an accident then the consequences can be severe.

The penalties for driving uninsured in the state of Maryland can include:

• $150 fine for the first 30 days, with an added $7 if it goes past 30 days.
• There’s an annual maximum fine of $2500 per vehicle.
• Suspension of registration. Driving with a suspended registration can result in getting additional fines and an impounded vehicle.
• Your case will be transferred to the Central Collections Unit (CCU) if you do not respond to the Motor Vehicle Administration’s insurance notifications.
• If the CCU gets your case, there can be a 17 percent collection fee on your fines. Your tax return will be intercepted.

These situations are much worse and can do more financial damage than having car insurance. There’s also the added peace of mind that you know you have a plan in case an accident occurs. When an uninsured driver is in an accident, they may have these consequences in mind, which could lead them to take the accident a step further and leave the scene, making it a hit-and-run, which has worse penalties than those above.

The consequences don’t prevent everyone from driving without insurance, which is why you need representatives that you can trust.

Belsky & Horowitz, LLC Will Defend Your Rights

We have helped many Maryland citizens who were wrongfully injured in accidents caused by uninsured motorists. If the claim you file is successful, you don’t have to worry about the insurance company trying to give you less than you deserve. While your insurance company may try to get you to settle for less, we’ll be looking out for your best interests at every turn.

Getting started on your claim as early as possible will allow you to resolve the matter and start to move on. You won’t have to worry about the legal process and can get back to your recovery. All you have to do is get in touch with us and schedule a consultation so we can begin fighting for your rights.