Uninsured Motorist Coverage: You Paid for It, and It Is Supposed to Work for You

Plenty of drivers on Oklahoma roads carry no insurance at all, and many more carry only the minimum. When one of them puts you in the hospital, the coverage that matters most is on your own policy. It is called uninsured motorist coverage, or UM, and you may have been paying for it for years without knowing what it does.

What it covers

Oklahoma's UM statute, 36 O.S. § 3636, reaches three situations: a driver with no insurance, a hit-and-run driver, and a driver whose liability limits are less than your claim is worth. The last one surprises people. A driver carrying a small policy counts as uninsured, under the statute, when your claim is worth more than his limits.

The notice the Legislature requires insurers to give you says that, unless your policy provides otherwise, the coverage pays for injuries to you, to family members who live with you, and to other people riding in your car, and that it protects you and your resident family members while riding in any vehicle or while on foot. It covers bodily injury. It does not fix your car.

Find out whether you have it

Insurers have to include UM coverage with an Oklahoma auto liability policy unless you reject it in writing. The catch is in what happens next. A rejection, or a choice of lower limits, stays in effect for the life of the policy, through every renewal, and the company doesn't have to bring it up again. A box you checked at a kitchen table eight years ago may still control.

Pull your declarations page and look for the UM line. The minimum is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per occurrence, and you have the right to buy it in the same amount as your liability coverage. If it is missing or low, ask your agent in writing to add it. The required notice tells you the cost is small compared with the benefits, and it is right.

It pays from the first dollar

When your claim is worth more than the other driver's coverage, you may be told to collect from his company first and come back afterward. That is not the law in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Supreme Court has held that UM coverage is primary: once it applies, your carrier owes your loss from the first dollar up to your UM limits, and it cannot hold your payment until the other driver's insurer has paid. Its remedy is to seek reimbursement from the at-fault driver afterward.

Your own company is now across the table

A UM claim puts your insurer in the at-fault driver's place. It pays what he would have owed, so it has the same reason he would have to say your injuries are minor or the wreck was partly your fault. The difference is that this company took your premiums, and it owes you a duty of good faith and fair dealing that the other driver's company does not. It has to evaluate the claim honestly and pay what it owes without making you fight for it. When it doesn't, Oklahoma law gives you a separate claim against it for bad faith.

Before you settle, talk to a lawyer

If the other driver's insurance company offers you a settlement, talk to a lawyer before you sign anything. Oklahoma law requires notice to your own UM carrier before you settle for the other driver's policy limits, and that step is easy to miss. A release is hard to undo once it is signed.

I handle injury cases on a contingency fee, so you pay no attorney fee unless we recover money for you. Call (918) 221-6190 or use the consultation form for a free consultation.

Related: Tulsa personal injury lawyer. Do You Really Get More With an Injury Lawyer? What the Numbers Say.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts, and past results do not guarantee future outcomes.