What You Should Know About Underinsured Motorist Insurance in Georgia

Getting into a car wreck is stressful enough on its own. But it gets a whole lot worse when the person who hit you doesn’t have enough insurance to cover the damage. This happens more often than people realize. You think the other driver’s policy will pay for your injuries or the car repairs, and then you find out it barely covers anything.

That’s where underinsured motorist insurance, or UIM, comes in. It’s something a lot of people in Georgia overlook until they really need it.

What Underinsured Motorist Coverage Does

When someone causes an accident and doesn’t have enough insurance to cover all the costs, UIM steps in to help fill the gap. It doesn’t matter how careful you were or how clearly they were at fault—if they’ve got the bare minimum coverage, you could still be left paying out of pocket unless you’ve got UIM on your policy.

Georgia law only requires drivers to carry $25,000 in liability coverage for injuries per person, and $50,000 total per accident. It sounds like a decent amount until you see the bills for the ambulance ride, surgery, physical therapy, or a totaled car. And if you’ve got a passenger with you, that limited coverage has to stretch even further.

UIM is something you add to your own policy. It covers you when the other person doesn’t have enough to cover what they owe. It can help with medical bills, lost wages, and sometimes even pain and suffering. You don’t have to go after the other driver personally or fight for years, hoping they come up with the money because they were underinsured to begin with.

How It Works in Real Life

Let’s say you’re driving through Athens and someone runs a red light. You get banged up pretty badly, spend a night in the ER, and miss two weeks of work. The other driver’s insurance only covers $25,000. Your total costs are closer to $60,000. Without UIM, you’re stuck trying to collect the rest. With UIM, you file a claim with your insurer for the difference.

That’s how it’s supposed to work, but, of course, auto insurance companies don’t always make it easy, even when it’s your own policy. They might try to argue the value of your claim, say your injuries weren’t that serious, or try to settle for less than what’s fair. It’s frustrating, but it happens all the time. This is when it helps to have someone on your side who knows how to deal with these matters.

And by the way, UIM coverage in Georgia isn’t automatic. You have to ask for it, and you have to pay extra for it. Some folks skip it, thinking they’ll never need it, or they assume that everyone else has enough coverage. But that’s just not the reality. Too many drivers are driving around with the bare minimum or no insurance at all.

Why It’s Worth Taking a Second Look

If you haven’t checked your auto policy in a while, now’s a good time. Call your insurance company or pull up your paperwork online. Look for “underinsured motorist” or sometimes it’s listed under “uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage”—they’re often bundled together.

You don’t want to find out you don’t have it after the fact. Once the damage is done, it’s too late to add it. And in Georgia, with all the traffic, college students, and people commuting in and out of town, there’s always a chance you’ll cross paths with someone who isn’t carrying enough.

So it’s one of those things that feels unnecessary until it suddenly becomes very important. And when it does, it can be the one thing that keeps a bad accident from turning into a full-blown financial disaster. This is also the kind of situation where an Athens personal injury lawyer will be familiar with how these claims play out and how to deal with lowball offers from insurance companies.