Un-Insurance vs Under-insurance
Both of these are extra coverages to protect yourself from other drivers driving around carelessly. You never know when someone could hit you for absolutely no reason by mistake. Both of these can be extra coverages in case your own standard policy doesn’t meet the claim in some cases but more accurately it is to protect against other drivers.
It is important to understand the difference between these insurances which are almost identical vs comprehensive insurance, which covers you in case trees fall on your vehicle or you hit a deer or something similar. These under and un- insurances protect against actual people when they hit you and technically they should be covering it because they are at fault but a wonky situation happens.
Underinsurance
This could happen if you might not have enough coverages, or more accurately if it is the other person’s fault and they do not have enough coverages on their own policy to fulfill your own claim. They have some and it meets some of the amount but your insurance would pay more on top of that.
Uninsurance
This is if someone isn’t driving around with insurance at all and hits you. Your car would still be covered. Sometimes these insurances can be blended together and depending on the specific policy & carrier one could cover the other so in these cases you might actually only need one type but it wouldn’t hurt to have extra coverage especially because in theory there is an actual difference.
Sometimes it is not amazing to hear, but sometimes even if it is the other person’s fault and they did not have enough insurance or they did not have insurance at all sometimes your insurance can actually pay for THEIR damages or claims for their own vehicles they were driving or themselves. Which can feel unfair but canny situations arise so it is good to have had that protection vs facing a lawsuit or something similar.
Since we are a resource for knowledge we might advise that going without auto insurance when you are driving your own vehicle you own is actually illegal in almost every state. We are not here to enforce the rules we are here to help you and act as brokers trying to get the cheapest rates for you from several carriers keeping in mind your goals and what coverages you want in an insurance policy.
Sometimes underinsurance comes first. If you have minimum state coverages sometimes you will still be able to get underinsurance but you will be denied from getting uninsurance. When you increase your actual limits that’s when you qualify for uninsurance. underinsurance is displayed first. then you have the option for your respective uninsurance coverages. These coverages can follow similar coverages to your liability limits like 25/50 to even 250/500 or more. Most of the time the liability limits you set for the underinsurance and uninsurance cannot exceed your already stated general liability limits for bodily injury and property damage.