According to estimates by the Insurance Research Center (IRC), the most reliable source on the subject of uninsured motorists, about 15% of drivers in Illinois had no auto insurance, compared to the nationwide rate of 13.8%.

A Measure of the Economic Downturn

The IRC has repeatedly stated its position that the current economic downturn will have a major impact on the number of uninsured motorists on the road, sometimes taking it to a fever pitch. For example, when it released the 2007 numbers in 2009, showing that the nationwide uninsured motorist rate had dropped from 14.9% in 2003 to 13.8%, the IRC predicted that the nationwide uninsured motorist rate would increase to more than 16% by 2010.

However, the truth has been much different. After a brief rise in 2008 to 14.3% it dropped back to 13.8%. While some states like Massachusetts saw a significant increase (from 1% in 2007 to 4.5% in 2009), many others saw a significant decrease. California, for example, saw its uninsured motorist rate drop from 18% to 15%, roughly the same as Illinois. In Illinois, the number of uninsured drivers remained essentially constant from 2007 to 2009.

A Major Concern

Although we have not seen the dramatic increase in uninsured motorists that some feared, it remains a major concern. After all, if you are in a car accident, there is better than a 1 in 7 chance that the other driver does not have insurance, which could leave you without compensation for damage to your vehicle and medical expenses related to the accident.

Can I Trust My Insurance Company After a Car Accident?

Case Study:

I give this answer from experience. I’m a personal injury lawyer with two decades of experience in dealing with insurance companies. At one point during my career, I was even employed by an insurance company. Usually after someone’s involved in a car crash that was someone else’s fault, they wonder if they should trust the negligent (at fault) party’s insurance company. The answer is almost always a big fat NO. BUT, some wonder if they should even trust their own insurance company. Unfortunately, the answer is “probably not.”

Let me illustrate in a real life example. I am just finishing off a case for a client of mine. I’ll refer to him as JB. JB is insured by Allstate, yes the “You’re in Good Hands with Allstate” folks. JB was in a high impact car crash with another driver who ran a stop sign and T-boned his vehicle. JB’s car was totaled. The photos of his damaged car were disturbing. Unfortunately, the at fault driver did not have insurance. No worries, our client has purchased Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM insurance) through his own auto insurance company, Allstate. When you are in a car crash that is the other driver’s fault and that driver does not have insurance, UM coverage will (should) help protect you. JB did not hire us right away. After all, he felt like he was in “good hands.” He trusted the company that he had been paying premiums to for around 30 years.

After the car crash, JB suffered many injuries which required emergency room care, including a broken bone in his foot and an injured shoulder. Because he was nursing his broken foot for a couple weeks, he initially did not get much care for his shoulder. However, after those first couple of weeks, his foot doctor referred him to a shoulder doctor. JB eventually had shoulder surgery. His injuries forced him to miss work as a school teacher. As a result of the crash, JB incurred medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering. When JB turned to Allstate to get properly compensated under the law, what did Allstate do? They said something along the lines of, “We don’t believe you. We think your injuries were caused by something other than the car accident. We also think the accident was partially your fault.” JB was in disbelief. He hired us.

We filed an Uninsured Motorist (UM) claim on JB’s behalf. We provided Allstate with all of the police reports, property damage photos, medical records, bills, wage loss information, etc. We presented JB for a sworn statement taken by one of Allstate’s lawyers. We even had JB’s treating doctor, a highly regarded orthopedic surgeon with 30-plus years of experience; author an extensive report outlining exactly why JB’s injuries were related to the car crash. Was that enough for Allstate to do the right thing? Nope. Did they want to engage with us in settlement discussions? Nope. They hired their own doctor, a doctor fresh out of medical school with, frankly, a sad resume, to contest JB’s injuries. This doctor’s report was filled with half-truths and outright lies. Eventually the case went to arbitration and we were able to obtain nearly nine times Allstate’s pre-arbitration offer for JB.

This brings us back to the question: Can I Trust My Own Insurance Company After a Car Accident? The answer is again: “Probably not.” I don’t intend to single out the “good hands” people at Allstate in this article. Many insurance companies that offer auto insurance probably would have done the same thing.