Philadelphia has plenty of drivers who carry only the legal minimum, and some who carry nothing at all. When that person hits you, the liability claim against them may be too small, or empty. The coverage that is supposed to fill that gap is uninsured motorist coverage, and its cousin, underinsured motorist coverage. Both are easy to waive, and many people waive them without a second thought.
Section 1731 of Title 75 starts with a mandatory offering. No motor vehicle liability insurance policy shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this Commonwealth, with respect to any motor vehicle registered or principally garaged here, unless uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist coverages are offered in amounts as provided in section 1734. Purchase of those coverages is optional. That last sentence is the one that surprises people after a crash.
What each coverage is for
Uninsured motorist coverage, under section 1731(b), shall provide protection for persons who suffer injury arising out of the maintenance or use of a motor vehicle and are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles. Underinsured motorist coverage, under section 1731(c), does the same when the other driver has some liability insurance, but the limits are not enough to pay the losses and damages. Section 1702 defines those two kinds of vehicles in more detail.
These claims are usually made against your own insurer, under your own policy. They are not a gift. You still have to show that you are legally entitled to recover from the other driver, which brings in fault, the two-year deadline, and, as noted below, the limited-tort election.
How a rejection is supposed to look
The named insured may reject uninsured motorist coverage by signing the written rejection form set out in section 1731(b). A separate form, with its own statutory language, is used to reject underinsured motorist coverage under section 1731(c). Section 1731(c.1) requires insurers to print those rejection forms on separate sheets, in prominent type and location. The forms must be signed by the first named insured and dated to be valid. Signatures may be witnessed by an insurance agent or broker.
Any rejection form that does not specifically comply with this section is void. If the insurer fails to produce a valid rejection form, uninsured or underinsured coverage, or both, as the case may be, under that policy shall be equal to the bodily injury liability limits. On policies in which either coverage has been rejected, renewals must contain notice in prominent type that the policy does not provide protection against damages caused by uninsured or underinsured motorists.
That is a powerful remedy, but it depends on the forms. If you were told the coverage was rejected, ask to see the signed, dated, separate-sheet forms. A conversation or a check mark on a mixed form may not be enough under the statute.
Lower limits, if you keep the coverage
Section 1734 says a named insured may request in writing the issuance of coverages under section 1731 in amounts equal to or less than the limits of liability for bodily injury. If you kept UM or UIM but asked for a lower amount, that written request is the document to find. If no valid rejection exists and no valid lower-limit request exists, the coverage question turns back to section 1731(c.1) and the bodily injury limits.
Two limits on recovery
Section 1731(d) has two limitation rules that matter in practice. A person who recovers damages under uninsured motorist coverage cannot recover damages under underinsured motorist coverage for the same accident. And a person precluded from maintaining an action for noneconomic damages under section 1705 may not recover from UM or UIM coverage for noneconomic damages. Limited tort can follow you into a claim on your own policy. Our limited tort guide explains that election.
Section 1722 also applies in a UM or UIM proceeding. Amounts paid or payable as first-party benefits generally cannot be collected again in that proceeding. Our first-party benefits guide covers the overlap.
Hit-and-run and missing policies
If the other driver left the scene, or never produced a policy, uninsured motorist coverage is often the practical path, if it was not validly rejected. Report the crash to the police when section 3746 requires it, and request the crash report so you have the date, location and any identifying details the officer wrote down. Our report guide explains the City’s request process.
Then put the other driver’s claim and your UM claim on the same calendar as the two-year period in section 5524. Policy terms can add their own notice requirements. Missing an insurer’s notice window is a poor way to test coverage that you already paid for.
Why the state minimum leaves a gap
Pennsylvania’s definition of financial responsibility, in section 1702, is the ability to respond in damages of $15,000 because of injury to one person in any one accident, $30,000 because of injury to two or more persons, and $5,000 because of damage to property of others. A driver can be “insured” in the legal sense and still have far too little coverage for a surgery, a long absence from work or a death claim. That is the situation underinsured motorist coverage is built for, if it was not validly rejected and if the limits were not written down to a token amount.
If the other driver had no coverage at all, or cannot be identified, uninsured motorist coverage is the parallel path. Neither coverage increases the other driver’s personal obligation. They are benefits under your policy, subject to the policy terms, the rejection rules in section 1731 and the noneconomic-loss limit that follows a limited-tort election.
If you are shopping for a policy, or renewing one, read the tort option and the UM and UIM forms together. The premium difference is visible at the start. The cost of not having the coverage is only visible after someone with no insurance, or not enough insurance, has already caused the harm.