Being in any kind of car accident is stressful and may result in painful injuries and other damages. But a hit and run crash adds another layer of difficulty – you may have trouble tracking down the other driver. Under Georgia law, any driver involved in a crash that leads to injury, death, or damage to a vehicle must stop at the scene. Unfortunately, sometimes this doesn’t happen, leaving the driver who did stop to deal with medical bills, lost wages, vehicle damage, and more. If you’re in this situation, it’s important to know that you may still have options for covering your damages.
Contact a car accident lawyer immediately to find out what you can do. Attorney Ali Awad fights for his clients, taking on big insurance companies and other parties in personal injury claims. He founded the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm and rapidly turned it into one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. When he’s not handling cases for clients, he dispenses legal wisdom to more than a million followers on social media. Contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm today for a free consultation about your options for compensation after a car accident.
How Do I Get My Expenses Paid After A Hit And Run?
Multiple options may be available in a hit and run case. Ideally, you will find the driver and make a claim on their car insurance, but this isn’t always possible. Leaving the scene of an accident can be classified as either a misdemeanor or felony depending on the details of the crash, and the police will make every effort to find the driver. However, they may be busy with multiple cases and have limited resources. At some point, many hit and run investigations simply go “cold” with no new leads.
Your car accident lawyer will probably make another attempt at tracking down the driver. Our investigators have more time and resources to devote to the problem, and in some situations, they may uncover new witnesses or other evidence that leads to the driver.
However, there are still many situations where a law firm’s investigation team is also unable to find the driver. In these circumstances, we turn our attention to finding other sources of insurance coverage for your claims. The best place to start is with your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UI).
What Does Uninsured Motorist Cover?
More than most people think. Some clients have told us that they didn’t believe their UM/UI coverage would work for a hit and run, but it does. Here are some other surprising things to know about UM/UI coverage:
- You don’t have to be driving your car when the accident occurs for UM/UI insurance to apply. If you were the victim of a hit and run driver while walking or riding a bicycle, you will still be covered.
- UM/UI insurance usually covers you, your spouse, and other relatives who live in your home, such as teenage children.
- Anyone using your car is covered, so long as they have permission to drive it. This is often a relief to clients in a situation where their friend borrowed the car and had an accident with an uninsured driver. Some people don’t want to ask their friend to pay for damage caused by another driver, but they can’t afford to fix the car. UM/UI insurance is a good solution to these awkward situations.
- Another potentially difficult situation may arise if you are driving somewhere with a passenger when you’re struck by a hit and run driver. For example, let’s say that you’re giving your neighbor a ride to the store, you have the green light at an intersection, and another driver runs the red light and crashes into the passenger side of your car. Your neighbor could be hurt and wind up with a stack of medical bills they expect you to pay, even though the accident was caused by another driver who ran a red light and then ran off. When something like this occurs, UM/UI insurance will pay for the passenger’s medical expenses, so you don’t have to.
- UM/UI coverage is not required under Georgia law. Typically insurance companies will have a policy page specifically asking if you want to opt out of it, so if you don’t remember doing that, chances are you have UM/UI insurance. However, there are sometimes situations where people forget opting out or didn’t read the form carefully. If they get into an accident with a hit and run driver, they may find out they don’t have UM/UI coverage. If you’re not sure, it’s a good idea to check on what kind of coverage you have.
- UM/UI insurance policies start at $25,000 in bodily injury liability and $25,000 in property damage, but you can buy a larger policy if you like.
What if You Don’t Have UM/UI Insurance or Your Expenses Exceed Your Coverage?
This is not an ideal situation, but you may still have options if you elected to buy “MedPay” insurance. This coverage is for your medical bills – not to be confused with bodily injury liability insurance, which covers another person’s medical bills if they’re hurt in an accident you caused. MedPay will cover your medical costs regardless of who caused the accident so that it can be used in a hit and run situation. Likewise, collision coverage will take care of your car repair costs regardless of fault, and may be used if a hit and run driver damages your vehicle.
Injury and Accident Attorneys Can Help After an Accident, Call the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm
If you or a loved one have been injured by a hit and run driver, the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm can help you figure out your insurance coverage and other possibilities. Please contact us today for a free consultation. There is no obligation, and if we take your case, we do so on a contingency basis – that means you don’t pay anything up-front, only when we win your case.
