What happens if you are in a car crash without liability insurance?

Answer 1

It depends on who and was injured in the accident, who received injuries and what property damage was received. Although it differs from state-to-state many states require (UM)Uninsured Motorist coverage as well as liability insurance.

Under Illinois law, you are required to have car insurance Liability limits of at least 20/40/15. What does this mean? It means:

$20,000 per person, for bodily injury you cause,

$40,000 per accident, for bodily injury, and

$15,000 per accident, for damage to another's property, usually their car.

Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury Limits of:

$20,000 per person,

$40,000 per accident.

These are just the minimums and most drivers carry limits much higher then this. If the other driver is injured he is covered up to $20,000 per person and $40,000 per occurrence. In all actuality, the other driver's property and injury will be covered by his insurance.(The UM portion of the policy) However, this does not stop the insurance company from trying to recover the money it paid out from the liable party. This is called subrogation; the insurance company could sue you(if you were found liable) to recover damages to property and bodily injury that you caused.

Although it is estimated that 18-24% of drivers are uninsured, it is illegal and dangerous. If you were in an accident and caused damages you may have to pay civil and criminal damages and wind up paying for the rest of your life or spend time in prison.

If your car is registered, random checks are done to make sure people have auto insurance. If you don't carry proof of auto insurance and you are stopped by Illinois law enforcement, your license plates get suspended and you will receive a minimum $500 fine for driving uninsured, not to mention it then goes on your driving record and then you have to pay $100 reinstatement fee once you do get properly insured again. If you continue driving uninsured and get stopped, you get a minimum $1,000 fine for driving a vehicle while the license plates were suspended for a previous insurance violation, and a minimum 4 month suspension plus $100 reinstatement fee. Lastly, while the plates are suspended, no one may drive that vehicle.