How Does Connecticut Uninsured Motorist Coverage Work?
When you travel Connecticut’s streets and highways, you accept that an accident can happen at any time. You drive defensively. You obey the rules of the road, but you can’t always prevent another driver from crashing into your car. You expect their insurer to pay if they injure you, but what happens if they have no insurance? How does Connecticut Uninsured Motorist Coverage work?
What Happens When A Negligent Driver Doesn’t Have an Auto Policy?
Some motorists drive without auto insurance, never considering what might happen if they crash into your car. When an uninsured driver injures you, they have no coverage to pay what they owe. When your auto policy includes Uninsured Motorist Coverage, you may still be able to recover compensation for your injuries.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist claims can be complicated. When a negligent driver hits your car, a car accident lawyer can protect your rights. You will have a legal team assessing liability issues, evaluating your injuries, and intervening with your insurer on your behalf.
Your accident attorney can also help you understand your auto policy and explain how its uninsured and underinsured motorist provisions provide coverage. In the meantime, this FAQ can provide information to help you understand this essential coverage.
Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage Mandatory in Connecticut?
Connecticut’s Property and Casualty Statutes, §38a-336 Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage, make UM and UIM coverages mandatory. Every personal auto policy issued in the state must include these coverages with at least minimum limits.
- Bodily Injury Liability Coverage: $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident.
- Property Damage Liability Coverage: $25,000 per accident
- Uninsured/Underinsured Coverages: Your coverage limits usually match your Bodily Injury liability limit.
Given vehicle repair costs and injury values, it’s always prudent to consider higher policy limits. When you choose a higher limit for Bodily Injury Liability Coverage, your insurer must give you the option to purchase higher UM/UIM limits as well. If you decide to keep your UM/UIM coverage at the state’s minimum limit ($25,000/50,000) you must sign a form acknowledging that you made this choice.
How Does Connecticut Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage Work?
If an uninsured or underinsured motorist injures you in a car accident, your own insurer should become actively involved in your personal injury claim. When the negligent driver is uninsured, your insurer steps into the driver’s shoes. They handle your claim as though they were the negligent driver’s liability insurer.
When does Connecticut Uninsured Motorist Coverage Apply?
Policy language often differs depending on the insurance company. As Connecticut statutes mandate these coverages, every auto policy issued in the state must provide UM/UIM coverages with state-mandated provisions. You may have a valid claim if a driver negligently injures you in an accident and any of the following apply.
- The driver leaves the scene without identifying themselves.
- The driver doesn’t come into contact with an insured or a covered auto but causes or contributes to the accident, then leaves the scene unidentified.
- Neither the driver nor the vehicle owner have an insurance policy or bond that provides liability coverage.
- The liability insurer declines coverage. This may occur when someone steals an insured vehicle or takes it without authorization and causes an accident.
- The insurance company that should have provided liability coverage became insolvent.
Connecticut Underinsured Motorist Coverage Example
You or your family member may have a valid underinsured motorist claim when a negligent driver has liability insurance but not enough to pay your injury claim’s full value. Your insurer calculates their payment by deducting the negligent person’s coverage amount from your UIM coverage amount. Here’s an example.
- Your injury damages are 500,000 dollars.
- The negligent driver has a 200,000 dollar bodily injury liability limit.
- You have a 300,000 dollar Underinsured Motorist Coverage limit.
- To calculate your claim payment, the insurer deducts the negligent person’s coverage limit ($200,000) from your UIM coverage limit ($300,000) and pays the difference.
- In this example your insurer would owe a 100,000 dollar UIM settlement.
To ensure that you have enough coverage to pay for a serious injury, you may wish to consider purchasing Underinsured Motorist Conversion Coverage?
How Does Connecticut Underinsured Motorist Conversion Coverage Work?
In the above example, the negligent party’s insurer would pay 200,000 dollars of your 500,000 in injury damages. If you had UIM Conversion Coverage, your insurer would owe the balance of your claim up to your available per accident limit. If the negligent driver had 200,000 dollars in coverage, your insurance company would owe the full 300,000 UIM policy limit for a total of 500,000 dollars.
UIM Conversion Coverage isn’t mandatory in Connecticut. Your insurance carrier must give you the option to purchase it for an additional premium.
How Do You Make a UM, UIM, or UIM Conversion Claim?
You initiate a claim by filing a report with your auto insurance carrier. Even if you believe the other driver will pay your damages, you should report your accident for several reasons:
- Your policy requires that you report any claim for which your coverage might apply. If you don’t report your claim and decide to make an injury claim months or years later, you will have prevented your insurer from conducting a timely investigation. If your actions jeopardized your insurance company’s rights, they may decline coverage for your accident.
- You won’t know immediately if the other driver’s liability insurer doesn’t have valid liability coverage. You should place your insurer on notice in case you need to make an uninsured motorist claim in the future.
- Until you learn more about your injuries and disabilities, you won’t know if your claim value exceeds the negligent driver’s liability limit.
- Your insurance company may have subrogation rights–the right to recover any damages they pay on your behalf. They expect you to protect those rights. This begins with timely reporting.
If the negligent driver has no insurance or you’re the victim of a hit-and-run driver, your insurer should become actively involved in handling your claim. If the other driver has liability insurance, your insurer may set up a UIM claim if you sustain catastrophic or serious injuries. If you’re working with an auto accident attorney, they can deal with your insurer on your behalf.
What Is My Connecticut Uninsured Motorist Insurer’s Role In Handling My Personal Injury Claim?
When you make an uninsured motorist claim, your insurer steps in to fill the role the negligent driver’s insurer would have filled. They become the other guy’s liability insurance carrier, handling your personal injury claim the way a traditional liability carrier would.
Your UM/UIM Insurer Must Confirm The Other Driver’s Liability
Your UM/UIM insurer investigates your claim from a liability carrier’s point of view. They assess UM/UIM and liability claims based on the other driver’s negligence.
- Did the other driver owe you a duty to drive safely?
- Did they breach that duty by running a red light, or committing some other negligent act?
- Did you sustain injuries?
- Were your injuries a direct result of the driver’s negligent actions?
Even if your insurer finds that the other driver was negligent, they must also determine if you contributed to the accident in any way.
Your Connecticut Uninsured Motorist Insurer Will Assess Your Potential Liability
Connecticut’s negligence statutes acknowledge that more than one person can contribute to an accident. When your insurer investigates your UM or UIM claim, they decide if both you and the other driver committed negligent acts.
For example, if your insurer believes your actions made you 20 percent negligent, they could reduce their claim settlement by this percentage. If your injury claim is worth 500,000 dollars, they would reduce your payable claim by 100,000 dollars and pay their share of 400,000 dollars.
As your liability carrier, your insurer must also decide if you owe any compensation to the other driver. To accomplish this, they assess your potential negligence compared to theirs.
- When a driver is 51% or more responsible for the accident, their liability insurer pays the other driver’s damages less a percentage that reflects their negligence.
- A driver who is 51% negligent or greater receives nothing from the other driver’s liability insurer.
- If both drivers are 50% at fault, their insurers owe 50% of the other driver’s damages.
How Does Your Insurer Determine Your Injury Claim’s Value?
Your insurer treats your UM/UIM claim as they would any other liability claim. They do the following:
- Conduct an investigation
- Evaluate the legal issues
- Decide liability percentages
- Obtain your medical records
- Evaluate your injuries
- Determine the negligent driver’s insurance status
Liability for a No-Contact Accident
If a negligent driver causes a no-contact accident and leaves the scene unidentified, Connecticut’s UM endorsement requires an “insured” to prove this, “…by a fair preponderance of evidence…” This standard of proof requires you to produce evidence that the scenario you reported was more likely to have happened than not.
How Does My UM/UIM Insurer Decide What to Pay For My Injuries?
When an accident occurs in Connecticut, an injured person may receive compensation based on economic and non-economic damages.
- Economic Damages: These are relatively easy to calculate as they’re based on out-of-pocket costs. They include ER treatment, medical bills, hospitalization, prescriptions, therapy, lost income, and other expenses incurred during treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation.
- Non-Economic Damages: This element of your claim includes negotiated values for pain, suffering, emotional distress, disfigurement, scarring, and other damages based on your subjective experiences.
You Must Prove Your Damages
Your insurer can easily document your economic losses by obtaining your bills and verifying your income. Based on your policy, it’s ultimately up to you to prove all of your losses. This is particularly important with non-economic damages as evaluation and settlement reflect issues with no set value.
Your proof for non-economic damages may include psychologist’s or plastic surgeon’s evaluations. You might also track your pain, emotional distress, recovery, and other issues in a daily journal.
Evaluating Your Underinsured Motorist Claim
Before you can make an underinsured motorist claim, your UIM insurer must acknowledge that your injury claim’s value exceeds the negligent driver’s liability coverage limit. This is a simpler process when you’re recovering from catastrophic injuries. Often, the medical bills alone will deplete the liability coverage.
Insurers Don’t Always Agree On Claim Values
When you’re dealing with two insurers in resolving a UIM claim, injury claim evaluations can be a challenge. Each insurer has their own theories and systems for evaluating and settling injury claims. Even if the other driver’s liability carrier decides your injury claim exceeds their policy limits, your insurer won’t necessarily agree.
It often comes down to negotiation. Reaching an underinsured motorist settlement agreement usually requires that all parties negotiate in good faith. Otherwise, your case will eventually end up in court.
Will My Insurance Company Initiate UM/UIM Settlement Negotiations?
Your UM/UIM carrier may make initial contact, complete their investigation, and pay your collision damage. If your claim meets the qualifications for a valid UM or UIM claim, they will probably wait for you or your legal representative to initiate settlement negotiations. You must make it clear that you expect compensation for your injuries.
Does My UM/UIM Insurer Have a Conflict of Interests?
With your insurer deciding the outcome of claims two different companies would typically handle, it can create a conflict of interests. Insurers sometimes try to minimize the appearance of conflict by assigning companion claims to separate adjusters. Still, the same managers or supervisors often oversee and control both claim files.
Your Auto Policy Gives Your Insurer the Right to Compel Your Cooperation
Your auto policy is a contract where you agree to certain duties and conditions. When your own insurer acts as the other driver’s liability carrier, you must give up some of your rights as a claimant.
Your insurer can require informally recorded or sworn statements, and other documentation you could refuse to give the other driver’s insurer. If you fail to cooperate with your own insurer based on their timeframe, they may consider a delay as grounds for denying your claim. A liability carrier doesn’t have the right to do this.
In addition to requiring your cooperation, your policy’s UM/UIM coverage includes provisions and exclusions that further define your rights.
- Mandatory arbitration provisions
- Permission to file a lawsuit
- Subrogation rights
- No settlements that may jeopardize the insurer’s rights
- No coverage for punitive or exemplary damages
Do I Need an Attorney to Handle My UM/UIM Claim?
When you sustain injuries in a car accident, you should never try to resolve your claim without professional legal assistance. Uninsured and underinsured motorists claims are liability claims with multiple complications. If you don’t fully understand the coverage and claim process, your insurer may take advantage of your information gap.
When you consult with a car accident attorney, you can discuss your car accident and injuries and learn more about your legal alternatives. Once you establish a working relationship, your lawyer can take immediate steps to protect your legal rights.