After a car accident in Kentucky, most people will file a claim with their auto insurance carrier to recover money to pay their medical bills and car repairs.
Kentucky has a two-tiered auto insurance system. First, most Kentucky drivers will tap their state-mandated Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance coverage to pay their initial medical expenses. If their medical expenses exceed $1,000, an accident victim may seek payment through the at-fault driver’s auto liability coverage.
But what if the driver who caused a car accident does not have insurance? You may file a claim with your uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. Many drivers overlook this coverage after accidents.
The Kentucky auto accident attorneys of Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer can review your auto insurance coverage and help you understand the steps available to you. We want to help you maximize your accident claim. Contact us to speak with an uninsured motorist lawyer. We are known for providing the Kentucky Courage to help injured people seek justice after a serious car accident. Get started with a free legal consultation.
Uncover Uninsured Motorist Accidents
Kentucky’s Motor Vehicle Reparation Act requires car owners to obtain Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance coverage. It pays the policyholder’s initial medical expenses from a car accident. Car owners in Kentucky are also required to maintain liability coverage on their motor vehicles, which pays injured parties when the policyholder is at fault for an accident.
The minimum required PIP coverage in Kentucky provides up to $10,000 for car accident medical expenses per person. The coverage includes $200 a week for lost income or 85% of normal income, which is less than $200 a week.
Kentucky’s minimum liability coverage requires a policy providing coverage worth:
- $25,000 for all claims for bodily injury sustained by any one person
- $50,000 for all bodily injury sustained by all persons as a result of an accident
- $25,000 for all property damage as a result of any one accident.
After a car accident, the drivers involved should exchange vehicle registration and insurance information. Kentucky law requires drivers to provide the names and addresses of the vehicle owner, driver, and occupants and the vehicle’s registration number. You should also ask for proof of insurance and take a photo of the insurance card or write down the information on it. If a driver resists, the police can obtain the insurance information on your behalf.
If you do not get insurance information at the accident scene, you may:
- Contact the Office of the County Clerk in the county where you live. Vehicle owners must register their cars with their county of residence and must provide proof of Kentucky insurance to do so. The office may give you the other driver’s insurance information if you have a valid reason, such as being the victim of a hit-and-run car accident. You will need to give the office what information you have to identify the at-fault driver.
- Contact the insurance company. If you have partial information about the driver’s insurance, such as the name of the insurance company, you might be able to call their insurer and get more details. Explain that you were in an accident they were also involved in.
If you engage a Kentucky car accident lawyer to handle your accident claim, we can obtain insurance information for you.
How Many People Drive Without Insurance in the United States?
In a 2021 report, the Insurance Research Council estimated that 13.9% of motorists in Kentucky were uninsured in 2019. The estimated uninsured motorist rate across the country was 12.6%.
Based on 1.6 million automobiles registered in Kentucky, there are more than 222,000 uninsured vehicles on Kentucky roads.
What Happens If the Person at Fault in An Accident Has No Insurance?
After a serious car accident, it is likely that you will exhaust the $10,000 available from your PIP insurance. If you suffered injuries that meet certain thresholds, you can sue the at-fault party and demand compensation for your losses. These thresholds are easily met in a serious accident:
- Medical expenses that exceed $1,000
- A broken bone
- Permanent injury
- Permanent disfigurement
- Death of a family member.
This lawsuit would seek compensation from the at-fault driver’s auto liability insurance. If you find that the driver has no auto insurance, it is unlikely they’ll have other assets to target in a lawsuit. In such a case, you would turn to your own insurance.
In addition, you may have private health insurance and/or Medicare or Medicaid that can be applied to medical bills. To recover additional money for medical bills, loss of income, and other losses related to the car accident, you would file a claim under your uninsured motorist coverage.
How Uninsured Motorist Protection Helps You in Case of An Accident?
An uninsured motorist is a driver who does not have auto liability coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage also applies to unidentified hit-and-run drivers because, in such cases, there’s no liability coverage to access.
Insurance companies are required to offer uninsured motorist coverage in Kentucky worth at least $25,000 for bodily injury per person and up to $50,000 per accident.
Uninsured (UM) coverage is not required in Kentucky, but many drivers do have this coverage unless they rejected it in writing.
What Is The Process After You File an Uninsured Motorist Claim?
If the evidence shows that your accident and injuries were caused by an uninsured driver (or a hit-and-run driver who was not found), your insurer should pay your uninsured motorist claim. If your claim is disputed, one of our Kentucky Courage attorneys at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer can gather evidence to demonstrate the other driver’s liability.
To prove an uninsured motorist claim, our attorneys will need to show:
- The other driver was at fault. The police report filed after your accident may show the other driver was at fault. The other driver may have been ticketed for a traffic infraction. If the fault is disputed, other evidence may also be necessary, such as witness statements, surveillance video, or results of a technical examination of the crash scene and the damaged vehicles.
- The other driver was uninsured. If the other driver was never identified, the police report will state this. If we have the driver’s identity or their vehicle’s registration number, a letter from the Kentucky Insurance System’s Vehicle Liability Insurance Verification program will state that the vehicle’s registration was not renewed due to a lack of insurance.
Do I Need a Lawyer for an Uninsured Motorist Claim in Kentucky?
After any car accident that leads to serious injuries, an experienced personal injury attorney can help you seek the full insurance settlement you deserve. If your claim is disputed, we can investigate and gather the information required to prove the validity of your claim.
In Kentucky, a car accident attorney with Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer can help you navigate Kentucky’s requirements for auto accident claims and determine whether there are other sources of compensation available to you.
When the at-fault driver in a car accident has little or no insurance coverage, we can investigate whether other parties have financial liability for that driver. Others who may be held liable in a car accident include:
- A driver’s employer. If the driver who hit you was driving as part of their job duties at the time of the accident, their employer may have liability for the driver’s negligent driving. This applies to the employers of delivery drivers, employees traveling between business meetings, and others on the clock at the time of a car accident.
- A drinking driver’s server. If the driver who hit you was drinking and their intoxication caused or contributed to the crash, a bar or restaurant that served them alcohol may be held liable if they were obviously intoxicated when served more alcohol. Under Kentucky’s dram shop law, an alcohol vendor can be held liable when a reasonable person under the same or similar circumstances should (have) know(n) that the person served (was) already intoxicated at the time of serving. The law, which is written to protect servers from liability, does not extend any protection to those who have served underage drinkers. Witnesses and records like debit card receipts can tell us when and how much someone was drinking.
Car accident claims against third parties can be very complex. It is crucial to involve an experienced attorney who is committed to protecting the injured party’s right to be fully compensated.
Talk To a Kentucky Car Accident Attorney Now
While you may follow Kentucky laws and the rules of the road, other drivers you encounter may be less careful. If an uninsured driver has seriously injured you, let us help you work your way through Kentucky’s auto insurance laws to pursue the full and fair compensation you deserve.
Call Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer at (877) 809-5352 today to set up a free consultation about a car accident caused by an uninsured motorist. Find out how Kentucky Courage can help you.
