People drive around in the vehicles while largely ignoring the amount of risk involved. Although the vast majority of trips in motor vehicles end uneventfully, they occasionally result in catastrophic issues.
A motor vehicle collision could result in total damage to your vehicle, leaving you without transportation. More worrisome is the possibility that you could get into a wreck that leaves you with long-term injuries. A spiral fracture to the femur, a cervical spinal injury or a traumatic brain injury could leave you unable to work and dealing with lifelong symptoms.
Unfortunately, people with severe consequences from Colorado collisions often realize too late that insurance won’t be enough to protect them.
Many drivers in Colorado don’t have enough coverage
Every driver in Colorado has a legal obligation to carry liability insurance on their vehicle. That way, if they cause a wreck, that policy protects the people affected by the crash. State law requires $15,000 worth of property damage coverage.
Drivers also need to carry bodily injury liability coverage. If a crash hurts one person, the minimum coverage amount is $25,000. Crashes that involve multiple people getting hurt have a $50,000 minimum coverage level. Quite a few drivers only carry the insurance that the law requires of them, which means that they won’t have nearly enough insurance to reimburse you for surgeries and a year off of work.
Who protects you when a driver doesn’t have enough insurance?
Underinsured motorists are a well-known risk. The amount of insurance required doesn’t increase nearly as quickly as medical costs and the average price of a vehicle. Just like you have personal risk from drivers without insurance, those with inadequate insurance can also leave you with massive, unpaid bills.
Your insurance provider should offer you coverage for this exact situation. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage kicks in when you have losses not covered by the at-fault driver’s insurance policy. Of course, not everyone purchases this additional coverage. If you don’t have it and have already been in a crash, your only option to recoup your financial losses may be a civil lawsuit brought against the driver responsible for the rest.
Understanding how insurance might leave you with gaps can help you take the right steps after a crash with an underinsured driver.