Accident Terms and Definitions

Medical Payments Coverage
Covers the medical costs (up to the specified limit you choose) resulting from an auto accident for you, your family, and others in your car. It pays regardless of fault.

Hit and Run
An accident caused by someone who does not stop to assist or provide the required and necessary information.

Nonrenewal
The termination of an insurance policy at its normal expiration date.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Pays for bodily injury or wrongful death caused by an underinsured motor vehicle (that is, a vehicle which is insured, but at an amount that is less than your uninsured motorist bodily injury (UMBI) limits).

Claim
Notice to an insurer of a loss that under the terms and conditions of a policy may be covered.

Exclusion
A contractual provision in an insurance policy that denies coverage for certain perils, persons, property, or locations.

Cancellation
The termination of an insurance policy before its normal expiration date.

Deductible
The amount of the loss which the insured is responsible to pay before benefits from the insurance policy are payable.

Commissioner of Insurance
The title of the head of most state insurance departments. In some states, the Director or Superintendent of Insurance is used instead.

Subpoena
Document issued by the authority of the court to compel a witness to appear and give testimony or produce documentary evidence in a proceeding. Failure to appear or produce is punishable by contempt of court.