Where the money comes from
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in Alabama
The at-fault driver’s policy is one of two places a collision claim can be paid from. The other one is yours.
What happens next
The first call
Free and confidential: what happened, who was hurt, and whether an insurer has already asked you for a recorded statement.
If there is a claim
The office writes to the insurers and the other driver to have the photographs, the vehicle data and the repair records preserved.
The agreement
The contingency fee and how case costs are handled are set out in a written agreement, signed only once you have read it.
4.8out of 5
from 216 reviews on Google, as of August 2026
Invented for this demonstration, like the firm and every review on this site.
This rating reflects reviewers’ own experiences and is not a guarantee, warranty or prediction regarding the outcome of any matter.
A collision claim is usually described as a claim against the driver who caused it. In practice it is a claim against a policy, and the size of that policy is a fact about a stranger that nobody discovers until after the crash. Alabama sets a floor on liability limits and a great many drivers carry exactly the floor, which is a number that a single ambulance ride and two nights in a hospital can exhaust before anyone has discussed a broken wrist.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is the answer to that. It sits on your own policy, it is paid for by you, and it is the coverage that responds when the person who hit you had none or had less than the injury cost. It is also the coverage most people are least sure they have, because the decision to carry it was made once, at a desk, in a conversation about price.
Where the money comes from
What the coverage does, and when it is the only thing that answers
Four situations that arrive at the same place: the person responsible cannot pay for what happened, and the question becomes what else can.
- The driver carried no insurance at all
- Alabama requires liability coverage and a share of drivers on the road do not have it. There is no fund that steps in — uninsured motorist coverage is what is left.
- The driver carried the state minimum
- Underinsured motorist coverage answers the gap between what their policy pays and what the injury actually cost, up to your own limits.
- The driver left and was never identified
- A hit-and-run is generally handled as an uninsured motorist claim, which is why reporting it promptly matters to the claim as well as to the investigation.
- You were a passenger, or on foot
- Coverage frequently reaches household members and people occupying an insured vehicle, so the policy that answers may not be one you thought of as yours.
The rejection nobody remembers signing
Alabama law requires an insurer to offer uninsured motorist coverage with every liability policy, and allows the customer to turn it down in writing. That rejection is a piece of paper signed once, often years before the collision, frequently at the same moment somebody was being asked to lower a monthly premium. It is the single most consequential document in a great many claims and almost nobody can recall whether they signed one.
Which is why the first useful thing to do after a collision is not to argue about fault. It is to find out what coverage exists — on the other driver’s policy, on your own, and on any policy in the household — because that answer sets the ceiling on everything that follows, and it is knowable in an afternoon.
This is a general description of Alabama law, provided for information. It is not legal advice, it does not address the facts of any particular case, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Track record
A result, and a client’s own account
$1,450,000
Intersection collision, disputed right of way, spinal injury · 2024
A settlement reached after the vehicle data and the signal timing were obtained. Invented for demonstration — every result on this site is invented, as the notice at the top of the page says.
Rear-end car collision
The first call answered questions I had been carrying around for two weeks, and nothing was signed until I understood the agreement. Invented for demonstration.
Client, Strother County
Past Chair, Pettigrew County Bar Association
Pettigrew County Bar Association · 2021
The chair of a county bar association is elected by the lawyers practicing in that county and serves a one-year term running the organization’s meetings, continuing education and pro bono programs. It is a service role within a voluntary association. It is not a rating of legal skill, and it is not an endorsement of any lawyer’s services by the association or by any court.
No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Every case is different and is decided on its own facts.
This testimonial reflects one client’s experience and is not a guarantee, warranty or prediction regarding the outcome of any other matter.
Questions
Questions about uninsured and underinsured coverage
Does making an uninsured motorist claim count against me?
It is a claim on your own policy, which is what the coverage was bought to do. Whether an insurer treats a not-at-fault claim as a rating factor is a question about that company and that policy, and it is worth asking before assuming either answer.
How do I find out whether I have this coverage?
It is on the declarations page of your policy, usually abbreviated to UM or UM/UIM with a pair of limits beside it. If it is absent, there is ordinarily a signed rejection in the insurer’s file, and a copy of that document can be requested.
Can the coverage on more than one vehicle be combined?
Alabama permits uninsured motorist coverage to be stacked across vehicles insured under a policy, subject to limits set by statute. Whether it applies to a particular claim depends on the policy language and on how many vehicles it covers.
Does Alabama’s contributory negligence rule apply to this claim too?
Yes. An uninsured motorist claim still requires proving that the other driver was at fault, and Alabama’s rule that any negligence by the injured person bars recovery applies the same way it does to a claim against the driver directly.
How long is there to bring one?
A claim against an insurer is governed by its own deadlines as well as by the statute of limitations on the underlying injury, and some policies require notice far earlier than either. The deadlines are not the same and the earliest one controls.
Carrying uninsured motorist coverage and not sure what it covers?
The first conversation is free and confidential.
Contact
Tell us what happened
Call, or write to us
If it is urgent, call — (334) 555-0142. If it is easier to write it down, the form below reaches the firm.
What happens next
The first call
Free and confidential: what happened, who was hurt, and whether an insurer has already asked you for a recorded statement.
If there is a claim
The office writes to the insurers and the other driver to have the photographs, the vehicle data and the repair records preserved.
The agreement
The contingency fee and how case costs are handled are set out in a written agreement, signed only once you have read it.