In 2006, South Carolina lawmakers passed a bill upping the minimum required insurance coverage for liability insurance to $25,000. While lawmakers intended to boost the required minimum coverage across the board, they neglected one important area: uninsured motorist coverage.

Now, however, The State reports that a bill before the Senate aims to correct this omission and to take the required minimum coverage from $10,000 to $25,000. Our Columbia, SC accident attorneys know that having sufficient uninsured motorist coverage is very important to protect you if you are in a hit-and-run or in a crash with a driver who doesn’t have insurance. We believe the increase in the amount of uninsured motorist coverage that drivers must buy will help to make sure that everyone in the state can pay the bills in the event of an auto accident.

Understanding Uninsured Motorist Coverage

Uninsured motorist coverage is a type of insurance policy that you buy to protect yourself in case you get into an accident that is the fault of someone who cannot pay your damages.

Under South Carolina law, a driver who causes a car accident is supposed to pay the bills of those who are hurt in that auto accident. Many drivers, however, do not have the money to pay for car accident injury bills, especially since these costs often total in the thousands. In order to ensure that this isn’t a problem and that drivers are compensated for their injuries, South Carolina lawmakers require the purchase of liability insurance.

The liability limits were among the limits boosted in 2006, and there is a minimum coverage requirement of $25,000. This means if you get into a crash with someone and it is his fault, he will have no less than $25,000 in coverage available if needed to pay your bills (the exact amount to be paid will be worked out in a settlement or in court and will be based on the severity of your injuries).

The problem, however, is that not every driver actually buys the required liability insurance. If you get into a crash with a driver who doesn’t have it, then you are left with little recourse except to try to sue the driver and collect from his personal funds and assets (which may be impossible if he has no assets). Uninsured motorist coverage kicks in when this situation happens.

The uninsured motorist coverage will pay your bills that the other driver was supposed to pay. In other words, the uninsured motorist coverage stands in for the driver who was to blame for the crash, covering the costs.

This happens not just in situations where you are involved in a crash with a driver who has no insurance, but also in situations where you get into a car accident and the responsible driver hits-and-runs. Since you don’t know who the driver is in this case, you can’t collect from him and you’ll have to turn to your uninsured motorist coverage.

With a $10,000 minimum limit, the protection you are provided under current law doesn’t actually cover much if you’ve bought only the minimums. If the Senate is successful in boosting the limit up to $25,000, then you will have to buy at least this much coverage and you will be much better protected in the event that you have to rely on your uninsured motorist policy.

If you are hurt in a car accident, contact the Columbia, South Carolina attorneys at Matthews & Megna today at 877-253-7705.