2CV
I don't know about Rhode Island but here in Arizona, "uninsured motorist" insurance coverage doesn't protect a person from being sued, unless the person doing the suing is your passenger.
That's because, "uninsured motorist" insurance here only pays for medical coverage to a passenger in your car if your car is in an accident with a person who doesn't have insurance and, one of your passengers is injured.
How do I know this?
Because, shortly after I got married, my wife and I were driving home from a movie when a person without insurance on his car drove out of a side street in front of us without stopping.
I couldn't avoid him and it happened so suddenly I barely had time to hit the brakes.
There was no doubt about who was at fault because a cop was behind me and saw the whole thing.
Anyway, when I found that the guy didn't have any insurance at all, the next day I called my insurance agent.
I told him what had happened, the name of the guy in the other car and the police report number and said,
"How long do I have to wait to get my car fixed with the uninsured motorist insurance coverage I have?"
He answered, "Was anyone in your car injured?"
I said, "Only my wife and all that happened to her was she hit her forehead on the rear view mirror and got a little cut. Nothing serious."
That's when he lowered the boom on me.
Said he, "Well, the only insurance you have is liability and uninsured motorist coverage. You don't have coverage to fix your car because you didn't buy "collision coverage". The uninsured motorist insurance only pays for injuries to passengers in your car if the other driver doesn't have any insurance. It doesn't cover any injury's you personally might have suffered in the accident and in this case, because the only injury is to your wife and she doesn't require any medical assistance, it will pay you nothing."
Now, I still buy uninsured motorist insurance coverage for my cars because I have other people riding with me but on my motorcycle, since I
never carry a passenger on my motorcycle, I do not have it.
The whole thing pissed me off immensely so when it came time to renew my car insurance I switched to a different company.
Their uninsured motorists insurance is the same thing but I didn't want my old company to get another dime from me after all the fun I had.
It would be a good idea for anyone with uninsured motorists insurance to call their agent and ask about what it actually covers.
You might find that you can drop that coverage and save some money.