Queens Uninsured/Underinsured Accident Lawyer

Trusted By Drivers In Queens & Throughout New York

Did you get hit by an uninsured or underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) while driving through Queens or Queens? You might be in trouble when it comes to getting fairly compensated for your injuries, even with your personal injury protection (PIP) insurance coverage. Oftentimes, unprepared claimants go up against stubborn insurers and lose the chance to collect further damages to help stabilize their finances again after a bad accident.

Davidoff Law and our Queens UM/UIM accident attorneys are here to make sense of your situation and guide you through it. Depending on your insurance policy or even that of the driver that hit you, it might be possible for us to secure the entirety of the damages owed to you. Our lawyers are skilled in both settlement negotiations and courtroom litigation, whatever becomes necessary to do what is best for you and your case.

What is an Uninsured or Underinsured Driver?

New York is a no-fault insurance state that requires all drivers to carry current PIP insurance. After a car accident, your own PIP insurance provider should cover your medical bills and other losses, up to your policy cap. However, if your damages exceed the policy limit and your injuries are considered “serious” by New York law, you can then file an at-fault claim against the driver that hit you. If that driver is uninsured or underinsured, then you will be facing a new set of problems.

• Uninsured: A driver is uninsured if they carry no applicable insurance coverage when they drive, despite the law requiring it. Some highway safety groups estimate that more than 10% of all drivers in the country have no active car insurance, making them uninsured drivers. Some drivers are uninsured for financial reasons, and others are uninsured because their history of drunk and reckless driving has resulted in insurance companies refusing to sell them a policy.
• Underinsured: A driver is underinsured if they have active car insurance, but its policy limits do not help pay for all of the experienced damages in a crash. For example, you need another $50,000 to pay for your medical bills after a car accident, but the other driver’s insurance will provide only up to $20,000. The driver will be “underinsured” by $30,000.

Do You Have UM/UIM Insurance Coverage?

After being hit by an uninsured, underinsured, or hit-and-run driver, you should review your car insurance policy. In addition to PIP insurance that provides financial coverage from your own insurer, you could get coverage from a UM/UIM insurance plan. Most auto insurance companies offer UM/UIM insurance as an optional benefit for a higher monthly premium, meaning it is usually optional and rarely standard.

If you do have UM/UIM insurance, then it should provide further coverage for your damages, up to that policy’s cap. We highly recommend you invest in UM/UIM coverage if you do not have it already since the likelihood of being hit by an uninsured driver is roughly 10%. We also recommend you speak to our attorneys before filing your UM/UIM claim because many insurance companies will fight their own policyholders before paying out a UM/UIM policy.

Other Avenues to Secure Compensation

You are not necessarily out of options if you are hit by an underinsured or uninsured driver and you have no UM/UIM insurance. Our Queens UM/UIM accident lawyers can explore other ways to consider seeking compensation from the liable party. For example, it might be possible to use the homeowners’ insurance policy owned by that driver to get additional damages. Or we could seek higher damages from their insurance provider if the evidence and your damages would justify it.

The bottom line is that you should always explore all of your legal options after a UM/UIM accident. The easiest way to do that is to team up with Davidoff Law. From our office in Queens, we serve clients throughout New York.