Consumers Need to Read Auto Insurance Policies Carefully-Court Again Restricts Coverage

Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld the denial of underinsured motorist coverage for an injured police officer. Underinsured motorist coverage is insurance you can purchase in the event that another “at fault” driver injures you, but fails to carry adequate insurance coverage for your injuries. Remember that the minimum insurance for Pennsylvania drivers is only $15,000 for each individual and $30,000 for any accident no matter how many people are injured.

In this case, a police officer was injured on the job while responding to an accident. The driver responsible for the accident had insufficient insurance to compensation the officer for his injuries. The insurance company denied coverage based on the exclusion for injuries while using a non-owned motor vehicle which was regularly used but not insured for underinsured coverage. The Court reasoned that the police officer had not paid for coverage while using another vehicle.

The lesson to be learned is that courts will uphold Regularly Owned Automobile Exclusions. If you are the driver of a company car or other regularly used vehicles, you need to make sure that the non owned vehicles which you are regularly using have adequate underinsured motorist coverage.