If you have been involved in a motor vehicle accident, you are going to want to try and find a way to pay for not only the damages to your car, but any injuries that you may have sustained, as well. It can be frustrating to have to go through the process of submitting claims for payment, but if the driver in the vehicle that caused the accident does not have insurance, the frustration only gets worse.

Fortunately, you still do have some options when it comes to collecting money from an insurance company, and this article will explain those options:

Uninsured Motorist

Your own car insurance policy should have uninsured motorist coverage. This is coverage that costs very little to have, but kicks in when you've been involved in an accident with a motorist that does not have insurance.

This coverage would kick in when you've been involved in a hit-and-run accident as well. When you need to submit a claim for injuries or for damage to your car, the submission would be filed with your own insurance company.

If your coverage is not enough to compensate for all of your damages, you would then need to consider filing a personal injury lawsuit against the driver of the other vehicle. Because they don't have automobile insurance, you would be going after their own personal assets.

Under-Insured Motorist

Another option you have, again under your own policy, is under-insured coverage. This is another type of coverage that helps you when you're involved in an accident with someone who has automobile insurance, but not enough to cover all of your monetary losses. Again, you would file a claim with your own insurance company to recover the difference between the amount covered by the other driver's policy, and what your policy will cover. 

As with uninsured coverage, if your policy will not be able to cover the difference, you would need to file a personal injury lawsuit against the other driver.

Unfortunately, most individuals who don't have insurance or have very little coverage usually don't have a lot of money to begin with. If that's the case, then they probably don't have much in the way of assets. But, you still need to file the claims and file the lawsuits, because there are different ways of claiming money if a judgement is entered against the defendant. Your personal injury attorney can discuss all of your options with you.

To learn more, contact a company like Klafter & Mason LLC with any questions or concerns you have.