Missouri requires insurance from all drivers in part because the average person simply doesn’t have enough financial resources to pay for another person’s property damage expenses or hospital bills out of pocket. Most people hurt in a car crash can file a straightforward insurance claim afterward.
There will usually be property damage and bodily injury liability coverage available, each of which can pay thousands of dollars in costs. Unfortunately, the possibility exists for you to encounter a driver without insurance. What are the chances of a collision caused by a driver without insurance in Missouri?
There are thousands of uninsured motorists in the states
Despite the law, many people miss payments to their insurance providers or intentionally cancel their policies to reduce their monthly bills. If the rates of insurance coverage have remained consistent since 2019, then 16.4% of Missouri drivers don’t have insurance on their vehicles.
What happens to you if you get into a crash caused by one of these drivers?
Your policy will help
Missouri is one of the only states in the country that actually requires uninsured motorist protection. You will typically need to have coverage that mirrors your own liability protection that will pay your bills if someone else causes a crash when they don’t have an active Insurance policy.
Of course, making a claim against your own policy will still increase your costs, so you may want to consider taking the other driver to civil court if you have to make a claim against your policy. Typically, the civil courts will consider awarding damages to someone hurt by a driver who is obviously negligent or who broke the law.
The cost to repair your vehicle, your hospital bills and even your lost wages could be grounds for a lawsuit against a driver without active insurance. Although such claims may take a while to settle and even longer to pay you in full, pursuing financial justice in the courts is often a better choice than simply absorbing those losses yourself.
Learning about the most common risks on the Missouri roads will help you protect yourself from the consequences of a car crash caused by someone without insurance.
