A new study from the Insurance Research Council (IRC) and the Hanover Insurance Group determined that 13 percent of U.S. drivers were on the road without insurance in 2015, showing rising figures since 2010.
This news comes in spite of the fact that drivers are required to carry car insurance in 49 states. The implications, according to Hanover, are bad for the insured, as they or their insurance companies are often left to pay resulting physical damage and health costs.
“The results of the survey sound an alarm,” Daniel Halsey, president of personal lines at Hanover, said. “Uninsured motorists represent a significant risk to insured drivers. With the average cost of an uninsured motorist claim around $20,000, excluding any physical damage to the vehicle, the best approach is to make sure you have the proper insurance in place to protect yourself in the event of an accident.”
The company warns against being underinsured just as much as it does against being uninsured. To that end, they also recommend customers add uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage to their policies for an added layer of protection and even suggest getting the same amount of it as bodily injury coverage. They stress the importance of discussing such things with one’s insurance company, though.
In the end, the number of uninsured drivers varied greatly between individual states, ranging from 4.5 percent to 26.7 percent. Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico, Michigan, and Tennessee were in the top five states with uninsured motorists, while North Carolina, Massachusetts, New York and Maine have the lowest rates.