Updated June 2026
What Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage Insurance?
Uninsured motorist coverage has two components: bodily injury (UMBI) and property damage (UMPD). UMBI pays your medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering when an at-fault driver has no liability insurance or carries limits below your damages. UMPD pays to repair or replace your vehicle in the same scenario. Pennsylvania law requires every auto insurer to offer both at limits matching your liability coverage, but you can decline either or both in writing.
- You're rear-ended at a stoplight in Harrisburg by a driver with no insurance. You have $18,000 in medical bills and $6,500 in vehicle damage. Your UMBI pays the $18,000 in medical costs after your PIP exhausts, and your UMPD pays the $6,500 vehicle repair minus your deductible. Without this coverage, you would sue the driver personally — a judgment Pennsylvania law allows but that rarely results in payment from an uninsured defendant.
- A driver with Pennsylvania's minimum $15,000 bodily injury limit causes an accident that leaves you with $42,000 in medical bills. Their liability pays the $15,000 maximum. If you carry $50,000 UMBI, your policy pays the remaining $27,000. If you carry only $15,000 UMBI matching the state minimum, you receive nothing beyond the at-fault driver's payment — underinsured motorist coverage only pays the gap between their limit and yours.
Who Needs Uninsured Motorist Coverage Insurance?
Retirees who drive regularly in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or other high-density Pennsylvania areas where uninsured motorist rates exceed 10 percent should carry UMBI at least matching their liability limits. If you carry $100,000/$300,000 liability and have assets a lawsuit could reach, match that with UMBI so an uninsured driver doesn't leave you paying your own medical bills. If you've dropped collision on a paid-off vehicle and still drive it daily, UMPD replaces that property-damage coverage for less cost per year.
Match your UMBI limit to your liability limit if your net worth exceeds $100,000 or you drive frequently in areas where one in ten drivers carries no insurance. Reject UMPD if you carry collision, because collision covers hit-and-run and at-fault driver scenarios UMPD also covers and pays without requiring you to prove the other driver's insurance status. If you've dropped collision and drive a paid-off car worth under $5,000, reject UMPD as well — the annual cost exceeds the maximum payout within three years.
How Much Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Insurance Cost?
Uninsured motorist coverage typically adds $8 to $22 per month for minimum Pennsylvania limits, or $18 to $38 per month for $100,000/$300,000 limits.
- Your liability limits — UMBI is priced as a percentage of the bodily injury liability limit you select, so higher liability raises UMBI cost even if your own risk profile hasn't changed.
- County uninsured motorist rate — Philadelphia and Allegheny counties carry higher uninsured driver rates than rural Pennsylvania counties, raising premiums by 15 to 25 percent for the same coverage.
- Stacking election — Pennsylvania allows you to stack UMBI limits across multiple vehicles on the same policy, multiplying your available coverage but also your premium; a two-car household stacking $25,000 per person creates $50,000 total coverage and roughly doubles the base UMBI cost.
- Whether you carry collision — carriers price UMPD lower when you already carry collision because the overlap reduces their actual payout risk; if you've dropped collision on a paid-off car, UMPD becomes your only property-damage backstop and costs more.