Meaning & use
underinsured motorist
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountabletechnicallawbusiness
A driver who causes an accident but has too little insurance to pay for the damage they caused.
Grammar: Countable: you can say an underinsured motorist or several underinsured motorists.
Patterns
- be hit by an underinsured motorist
- underinsured motorist coverage
The other driver's policy only covered a small part of the repair bill, so he counted as an underinsured motorist.
If you are struck by an underinsured motorist, your own policy may pay the rest.
Many states require drivers to buy coverage against underinsured motorists.
Word forms
| plural | underinsured motorists |
|---|
Common combinations
- underinsured motorist coverage
- She added underinsured motorist coverage to her auto policy.
- be hit by an underinsured motorist
- He was hit by an underinsured motorist and had to use his own insurance.
- claim against an underinsured motorist
- You can file a claim against an underinsured motorist for the unpaid amount.
- underinsured motorist protection
- The state requires underinsured motorist protection on every policy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- uninsured motorist
- Use this when the other driver has no insurance at all, rather than too little.
Word family
- underinsured adjective
- Having less insurance than is needed to cover a loss.
- motorist noun
- A person who drives a car.
Commonly confused: underinsured motorist or uninsured motorist?
underinsured motorist vs uninsured motorist
An uninsured motorist has no insurance; an underinsured motorist has some, but not enough to pay for the damage.
Practice
A driver hits your car and their policy pays only $5,000 of your $20,000 repair bill. In insurance terms, that driver is best described as ______.
Choose one answer.
Underinsured means the driver had insurance but not enough to cover the loss. Uninsured (option 0) would mean no insurance at all, and motorist (option 2) simply means any driver.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “underinsured motorist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.