Understanding Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage in Indiana

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage pays you when the driver who hit you carries no insurance, or when the bodily injury liability coverage available to you from everyone liable is less than the underinsured motorist limit on your own policy. The money comes from your own insurer. Indiana requires an insurer to make this coverage available on a standard auto liability policy, sets a floor under how low the underinsured portion can go, and allows a named insured to reject it in writing.

What Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage Covers

Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver carries no liability insurance. IC 27-7-5-4 defines an uninsured motor vehicle as one “without liability insurance or … not otherwise in compliance with” Indiana’s financial responsibility requirements or another state’s similar requirements.

Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the limits of coverage actually available for payment to you under all bodily injury liability policies covering everyone liable for the crash are less than your own underinsured motorist limit. The comparison runs to what is actually available for payment, so a stated limit that merely matches yours does not settle the question.

The Indiana Department of Insurance describes this coverage as one that “allows you to collect these damages from your own insurance company.” We represent people pursuing uninsured and underinsured driver claims across Indiana.

What Indiana Requires Your Insurer to Provide

IC 27-7-5-2 requires an insurer to “make available” uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on an Indiana auto liability policy, with exceptions for umbrella and excess liability policies and certain commercial coverage. Absent a written rejection, the coverage must be provided at limits at least equal to your bodily injury liability limits.

Indiana’s minimum liability limits are $25,000 per person for most vehicles, per IC 9-25-4-5, with $50,000 required only where two or more people are hurt in one accident, not as a second figure available to a single claimant. Recovery vehicles carry higher minimums under section 6 of that chapter. Underinsured motorist coverage runs on a separate, higher floor: the statute states it “must be made available in limits of not less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000),” and an insurer “may not sell or provide” it below that amount.

A driver carrying Indiana’s minimum liability limits could reasonably assume their underinsured motorist coverage tops out at $25,000 too. It does not. That floor governs what an insurer must offer and the least it can sell, not what every driver automatically carries: a named insured who rejects the coverage in writing has none. Your own declarations page settles which you carry, and it is the first thing to check in an Indiana car accident claim.

How Much Your Own Policy Pays

How much your policy pays for bodily injury depends on whether anyone else paid first. Where nobody liable has paid anything, your ceiling is your own per-person limit or your total damages, whichever is lower. Where a payment has been made by or for anyone who may be liable, the offset rule reduces the most your policy can owe by that amount.

Why the Offset Reduces What You Collect

Under IC 27-7-5-5, the most your insurer can owe for bodily injury is the lesser of two amounts: your uninsured or underinsured motorist per-person limit minus what has been paid in damages by or for anyone who may be liable for your injury, or your total damages minus that payment. Take an at-fault insurer that pays its full $25,000 liability minimum against your own $50,000 underinsured motorist limit. If your damages run past $50,000, your claim is capped at $25,000, the gap between what was paid and your limit. Where your damages land between the two figures, the second calculation governs and caps the claim lower: $40,000 in damages caps it at $15,000.

The coverage tops up what liable parties have paid; it does not stack on top of it. Both definitions in IC 27-7-5-4 apply “subject to the terms and conditions of such coverage,” pointing back to your own policy: its wording decides how a specific claim runs, within the limits and floors the statute sets.

What Our Case Results Show

Our case results include one of our $3 million+ results, a jury verdict for a 77-year-old with a traumatic brain injury after a rear-end collision. Other published outcomes include crashes with semi-trucks and tractor-trailers, and a van wreck involving an alleged tire detread and an intoxicated driver. The semi-truck and tractor-trailer outcomes are two of the three recorded on that page as an insurance maximum. None of them is a UM or UIM claim; they show the crash types and outcomes behind the practice.

Brian Custy attended the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College in 2016, a school established to train attorneys who represent people rather than insurance companies, the government or large corporations. A UM/UIM claim is brought against your own insurer.

Common Questions About Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Claims

Does uninsured motorist coverage apply if the driver who hit me left the scene?

For bodily injury the statute is silent on an unidentified driver, so your own policy terms govern. Found later, their insurer answers first, and your underinsured coverage can still top up what their limits do not reach. For property damage, IC 27-7-5-3(c) bars recovery under this coverage where the owner or operator cannot be identified. We handle hit-and-run claims either way.

Can I turn down uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in Indiana?

Yes. IC 27-7-5-2 lets a named insured reject it in writing, stating which coverage and the effective date, and that rejection binds everyone else the policy would cover. Afterwards the insurer need not offer it again on a renewal or replacement policy from the same insurer or its affiliates unless you ask in writing.

What if the at-fault driver’s insurer becomes insolvent?

Indiana counts that vehicle as uninsured under IC 27-7-5-4, but only where two conditions both hold: your own uninsured motorist coverage was in effect at the time of the crash, and the at-fault insurer becomes insolvent within two years afterward. Outside either condition, the statute does not extend the protection, though an insurer may voluntarily offer more favorable terms.

Is there a deadline for a claim under my own policy?

IC 34-11-2-4 requires an action for injury to a person to be commenced within two years after the cause of action accrues. That section’s list does not include claims on a contract, and Indiana’s uninsured and underinsured motorist law sets no suit deadline. Read Indiana’s personal injury deadlines and have your policy read before assuming which period applies to it.

Does this coverage pay for damage to my car?

Only if you carry uninsured motorist property damage coverage. IC 27-7-5-3 requires your insurer to offer it, IC 27-7-5-2(b) permits it only alongside uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage, and it reaches uninsured rather than underinsured vehicles. It covers the vehicle and your own personal property inside it, not loss of use, and the at-fault driver must be identified.

Can I carry more of this coverage than my liability limits?

Sometimes, and it is the insurer’s choice, not yours. IC 27-7-5-2 lets an insurer offer coverage above your liability limits, or instead require your bodily injury liability limits to match your underinsured motorist coverage. Because the offset rule reduces the ceiling by what liable parties have already paid, a higher limit is what creates room to collect more.

Talk to Custy Law Firm | Accident & Injury Lawyers About Your Coverage

A free consultation is where to start. Custy Law Firm | Accident & Injury Lawyers handles uninsured and underinsured motorist claims across Indiana, with offices in Valparaiso and Merrillville. In it, we review your case and the coverage available, then give you a straight answer about whether there is a claim worth bringing. Call (219) 286-7361 or contact us.