Car insurance accident damages
If I get into a car insurance accident, how do I know for sure that my auto insurance policy will cover all of the damages?
Jude
I’m glad that you asked that, Jude.
It actually depends on what state you are in and whether or not it was your fault that the accident happened. However, I can break it down for you in the most general way and explain to you how it is in most states and with most auto insurance companies if you get into a car insurance accident with damages. Let’s see…
- But it wasn’t my fault!
If you aren’t the at fault driver in an auto insurance accident, then most of the time you can rest easy. In these cases, it is the other party’s responsibility, or at least that of his or her auto insurance company, to cover all of your property damages and injuries. However, one thing that you ought to realize is that there are thousands of people on the road across the nation who are driving without proper auto insurance coverage. If you get into an accident with one of this people, then you have only two recourses. Either hope to God that you thought ahead and purchased an uninsured/under insured motorist policy with your auto insurance coverage, or sue the responsible driver.
I would advise you to go with the uninsured/under insured motorist policy rather than the lawsuit. Lawsuits take time, money, and lots of evidence, and if you sue someone you also can’t insure that you will get your money as fast as you would from an auto insurance company. They may garnish that person’s entire check every week, but it doesn’t matter if they only make three hundred dollars a week and you have two thousand dollars of damage. Think ahead, double your coverage.
- Okay, it was my fault.
If this is the case for you, then your auto insurance policy is responsible for both drivers and injuries involved in the car insurance accident. Okay, not always. So long as you have the state minimum car insurance coverage, then your coverage will apply to they driver who was not at fault. However, if you want coverage for yourself then you have to go the extra mile by getting collision coverage. This covers you whether or not you were at fault. You should only get this kind of coverage if your car is worth more than a thousand dollars, though, otherwise it’s a waste of time.
The state minimum liability coverage is not a number sent down from God, remember that. If you get into a car insurance accident and you cause twenty thousand dollars of damage, but you are only covered for ten thousand dollars of damage…then you can get sued just as easily as if you weren’t insured at all for the remaining ten thousand in uncovered damages. Most auto insurance providers recommend that instead of getting the state required coverage, which is usually in the ten to fifteen thousand range for each liability, you should up it to a hundred thousand or more per.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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