If someone hits you and drives off, you might never be able to find them and hold them responsible for your injuries. However, your uninsured motorist coverage (UM) covers hit and run cases, helping you get damages for your injuries.
In a normal car accident case, you have the driver who hit you and can sue them or file against their insurance for damages. When they are unavailable or if they have no insurance, you use your uninsured motorist coverage instead. You can file claims under your own policy for these and other areas of coverage, and our lawyers can help you.
Call our Chicago car accident lawyers for help with your case today by reaching out to Rhatigan Law Offices at (312) 578-8502.
What is Uninsured Motorist Coverage?
Required car insurance in Illinois covers a few areas of damages after a car crash:
- “Bodily injury coverage” is liability coverage to pay for the injuries the policyholder causes to someone else.
- “Property damage coverage” is liability coverage to pay for the property damage the policyholder causes to someone else.
- “Uninsured motorist coverage” covers the policyholder’s injuries when an uninsured or hit and run driver hits them.
- “Underinsured motorist coverage” covers the policyholder’s injuries when a driver with low insurance cannot cover their full damages.
When you get hurt, you would usually file a claim against the at-fault driver’s policy’s injury and property damage coverage. Put another way, you’d file a third-party claim against their liability coverage. When the other driver cannot be found in a hit and run, you can use your uninsured motorist (UM) coverage in its place.
This is your insurance, but it pays as though it were coming from the at-fault driver.
Does Uninsured Motorist Insurance Cover Hit and Runs in Illinois?
You always have to check your policy to see exactly what your policy covers, but UM coverage is supposed to cover hit and runs in Illinois. Specifically, under Illinois law, the requirement to have uninsured motorist coverage calls it “uninsured and hit-and-run motor vehicle coverage.”
Do I Have Uninsured Motorist Coverage?
Everyone is required to have at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident in UM coverage on their insurance policy. The policy cannot be issued or renewed without it, so as long as your car insurance is from Illinois, you should have UM coverage.
Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Pay for Property Damage?
In Illinois, the required UM coverage only covers medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, i.e., the damages that pay for you and your injuries. Uninsured motorist property damage coverage is a separate optional coverage you can add to your car insurance policy.
How Do I File with UM for a Hit and Run?
You file a claim with your UM coverage by calling up your own insurance and making a claim. When you do so, you should explain that the accident was a hit and run, and the insurance company will want to do its own research and investigation to confirm that. They may need to talk to police and witnesses and get statements from you before they agree it was a hit and run and agree to pay your damages.
Can My Lawyer Help?
Generally, you do not need to worry about making your claim on your own if you have a Chicago car accident lawyer. We can talk to your insurance company for you and demand payments owed under your policies.
What Other Coverage Does My Insurance Have?
When we talk about “car insurance” generally, we are usually referring to liability insurance. That’s the kind of coverage that people carry to cover injuries and damage they cause others, and this is not usually going to cover your own injuries after an accident. However, other optional insurance coverages on your policy might help you.
Many people get additional coverage for things like medical expenses, collision coverage, rental reimbursements, accidental death coverage, and more. These will usually pay you regardless of fault, meaning you can use them as the victim or the person who caused the crash.
Using these coverages usually means paying a deductible. That is the portion you pay out of pocket, then the insurance company pays for the rest (up to your policy limits).
Can Uninsured Motorist Coverage Pay for My Deductibles?
If you paid deductibles to activate other coverages on your insurance policy, these would be out-of-pocket expenses/damages in your case. You could usually get them paid by the defendant, but since we’re talking about a hit and run, there is no defendant.
Like other unpaid expenses, these deductible costs should be claimable under your UM policy, but you would have to talk to a lawyer about the specifics of your policy.
What Do I Need to Prove a Hit and Run Case to My Insurance?
Your insurance company is contractually obligated to pay your damages under your UM coverage if you were involved in a hit and run and the defendant can’t be found. However, convincing them of this might be an uphill battle.
Insurance companies hate paying more than they have to, and the fact that you’re dealing with your own insurance company doesn’t necessarily change anything. You will need sufficient evidence to prove to them that the accident was a hit and run before they will agree to pay you.
Any evidence you can collect at the scene will help, such as witness contact info, security footage, dash cam video, etc. Our lawyers can research other evidence that might help, round everything up, and present it to the insurance company.
Can I Sue My Insurance Company if They Refuse to Pay?
Just because your insurance company is supposed to work for you doesn’t mean they’ll be happy to pay thousands of dollars for your injuries. If they refuse to pay or put up roadblocks, we may be able to take them to court for violating their contract with you. In some cases, the insurance company might demonstrate bad faith, which potentially allows us to claim punitive damages from them on top of the contractually obligated payments they owe you.
Call Our Chicago Hit and Run Lawyers Today
For a free case review with the Aurora, IL car accident lawyers at Rhatigan Law Offices, call (312) 578-8502.
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