Car Insurance Accident Liability – How To Determine Who Is At Fault?
Reader question:
How do you prove liability and responsibility in a vehicle insurance accident?
Ennis
That is a very good question, Ennis.
When you get into a car accident and you weren’t the cause of it, many would start out by seeing red. They might want to toss out insults and make demands to the at fault driver’s vehicle insurance company. However, the problem with this is that saying it does not make it so. You can’t just demand that your car insurance company realize who is the driver that should be liable in a certain situation, because there has to be more proof beyond just the words of the two drivers involved, considering that much of the time both will be vouching for their own side of the story.
Liability comes down to one basic factor, and that is the carelessness, or negligence, of the drivers. If one of the drivers is found to have been more careless than the other driver, than that driver will have to pay more of the car insurance claim costs than the driver who was not as careless. However, carelessness is not the singular factor. There are others, as follows.
- If the person who was injured in the collision was in a place that they had no business being, and the other driver had no reasonable reason to think that they or anybody else might be there. It’s like if you drive into a dark alley in the middle of the night to park and you run over someone sleeping on the ground. People have to sleep, but an alleyway is not the normal place for that, so the driver can not be considered careless for driving into a dark place to park and to dodging the people.
- Now, there are some cases where the person who was injured was careless, but so was the person doing the driving. As an example, if you run out into the middle of the street in your neighborhood and get hit by a car. Now, the car should be taking care while driving in a neighborhood and go slowly, because there are plenty of children and pets who are more likely than adults to run into the street randomly. On the second hand, you were stupid to have run into the street. This is called comparative negligence, and both of you would have to pay for the percent that was determined to have been your fault.
- If the collision happens on or involving some kind of property that is not safe, for reasons of being badly made or not well kept up, or for any reason really other than that you just crashed into it, then the owner will hold part of the responsibility, even if it isn’t his fault that the property is in this condition.
- If the motor vehicle accident is caused because one of the vehicles is defected in some way, then the blame falls on neither driver but instead on both the manufacturer of the car and the person who sold it, regardless of which of them is actually fully responsible for the defect.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Auto Insurance Claim – How To Prove Negligence?
Reader question:
What does it mean to be negligent in an auto insurance accident when making an auto insurance claim?
Mallory
That’s an excellent question.
The word negligent is a term used in the legal sphere to speak of an action that was caused as result of carelessness on the part of the negligent driver. This is often used concerning people, as in a negligent parent is someone who does not watch their child well enough and the child runs out into the woods and is eaten by a bear. In driving, negligent is much the same in that one driver’s careless action causes damage to another person or someone else’s property. For example, say you are passing through an intersection that has stop signs. While you’re in the middle of the intersection, another vehicle drives up to the stop sign that is perpendicular to you, fails to see it, and keeps right on going, and then smashes into the middle of your vehicle. You would have no fault in an accident such as this, because the second driver was completely negligent and didn’t keep an eye out for stop signs and other drivers.
Even direct acts involving the driving itself are not the limits when it comes to the word negligent as it is used concerning auto insurance claims. For instance, say someone who thinks they are especially cool goes driving after dark while wearing dark sunglasses. This person would then have a much lower visibility and could easily miss something and cause an accident. They would be considered negligent, and thus, at fault, because their silliness in wearing the glasses lowered their ability to drive responsibly and thus indirectly caused an auto accident.
Negligence is usually what is used to figure out who is the one who is at fault in a car accident and auto insurance claim, and it isn’t until negligence (or the occasional purposeful act) is found out that someone can be considered the at fault driver. If the other driver in your car accident is found to have acted carelessly, that is, to have been negligent, then they are responsible for any trouble they have caused you. Thi can extend from injuries and damages to your vehicle to anguish that you have suffered from the collision.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
What Happens to My Car Insurance Rate After An Accident?
Reader question:
I have pretty much every type of car insurance coverage available on my car. Now what do I do if I get into a car wreck?
Jimmy
Great question!
While the brunt of the handling of the situation will rest with your car insurance company, you will have to do your own share as well. Because of this, you should always be prepared and know what to do ahead of time. It’s good that you are taking interest in this in advance. Here are some guidelines to follow when you get into a car insurance accident.
- Keep an insurance kit in your car. This will contain things like your car insurance card, a disposable camera, a flashlight, pen and paper, phone numbers you might need, and anything else you can think of that might be necessary in the case of a car accident. Stick it all in your glove compartment for easy access.
- Stay cool. If you freak out, not only might you forget to do things that you need to do at the scene of the accident, but you might forget more about what happened when the time comes to tell.
- If there are any injuries, no matter how not serious, call 911.
- If it is possible, drive both cars to an area where they are not in the way of traffic. You already got into one accident for the day, you don’t want to cause another.
- If the damages are more than you can pay, then you should call a police officer so that a police report can be filed. The cop will want to get information from you as well as for those who witnessed the accident, and it is important that a police report be filed with both sides of the story.
- Use your camera to take pictures of damages. This helps you avoid fraud.
- Sometimes you are unable to get a cop out there to file a report. If this happens, you an the other driver have to go to the station to do it yourselves.
- Always report the accident to your car insurance company, and if it is for more than your deductible, file a claim. Even if the other person said that wouldn’t file a claim, call anyway, because you never know if they are telling the truth and you want your car insurance company to hear it from you first.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
What Are The Different Types Of Car Insurance Coverage And Which Should I Have?
This car insurance commercial that I found on YouTube really cracks me up. It sort of embodies the confusion that most people feel when they are trying to hash out their car insurance policy with their company, and everything seems both repetitive and lost on them every time. I’m going to try to help make this feeling a little better by giving you a short guide to different types of car insurance coverage that you might need when you go to get your policy.
- Comprehensive.
Comprehensive coverage is often required if you are financing a vehicle, but is to required by law in any state. This covers any damage or loss of vehicle in the event of a natural disaster, such as a flood or fire, or in the case of theft or vandalism. These are basically accidents that do not involve driving.
- Collision.
This is another type of coverage that might be required by your financer. Collision covers the damages or total loss of your vehicle of you get into a car accident with somebody else and you are the at fault driver.
- Gap insurance.
Third in the financer trilogy, gap insurance picks up where all of your other coverages leave off. In order to get this type of coverage, you have to have the max limits on all of your other coverage. This could be a lot of help if you total a car that you’re still paying on, because the value is often less than what you still owe.
- Liability.
This is the basic car insurance coverage that is required by most states. Liability encompasses three types of coverage, for injury or death to one or more persons, and for property damage. It covers the other driver in the case of an accident in which you are at fault.
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
When a driver causes an accident and does not have enough insurance, or any at all, to cover your damages, this type of car insurance coverage kicks in.
- Personal injury protection.
This is very popular in no fault states, and where it is not required might not be necessary if you have health and life insurance. It kicks in before the other driver’s liability does, and covers you if you are at fault. It handles medical expenses, wage loss, and death.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Are You Looking For Cheap Florida Car Insurance?
Florida has two kinds of laws when it comes to car insurance. First there is the financial responsibility law, and then there is the no fault car insurance law. What the financial responsibility law does is that it requires you to have coverage for your vehicle if you get into an accident in which you are at fault, so that the other car can be covered by your insurance policy. The limits are lower than for other states, with a 10/20/10 policy required rather than the amounts of other states which tend to be several thousand dollars more. If your license is suspended, you have too many traffic violations, you get into a car accident, or you are caught driving drunk, then you will need to prove financial responsibility.
If one of those above things happens and you aren’t insured in Florida, then you will have your license revoked for a period of three years. The only way to avoid this is to get Florida car insurance before the suspension of your license. It’s possible to get it very soon afterwards, but then you will have to pay a couple hundred dollars to get your license backed. Once you are with a car insurance company, they will have to file an SR 22 form in order to prove that you are insured with them, and SR 22 insurance tends to cost more than other types.
Florida is not new with its policy of having car insurance companies tell the DMV whenever they sell a new policy or when another one isn’t renewed. The DMV is informed that your car insurance policy is either canceled or not renewed, then you wil be required to prove that you have insurance or turn in your license plates. If you don’t do either of those, you’re looking at a license suspension of three years, yet again. No fault car insurance comes with its own requirements for coverage, and those are $10,000 PIP (personal injury protection) and $10,000 PDL (property damage liability). Unlike the minimum under the financial responsibility law, these amounts apply to you and your vehicle. This simplifies the claims process by keeping you with your own car insurance company.
Every time you lapse in your car insurance, the amount that you’ll have to pay to keep it goes up. The first time it’s one hundred and fifty, the second it’s two hundred, and the third it’s a whole five hundred dollars. Even if you don’t live in Florida for the whole year, so long as your car is there for three months (which don’t need to be all together), you have to be insured. One of the exceptions is if you use your car entirely for business, such as if you ar a taxi driver. If this is the case with you, then you don’t have to have insurance. However, if you get into a car accident while you are not insured, then after that you will be required to have SR 22 car insurance, which is more expensive.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Cheap Breakdown Car Insurance Coverage
Even with a thousand features on your car to keep it from getting into a car accident, you are still often unprotected from it suddenly breaking down on you. Even a car that you take care of constantly will go out at some point, even if it isn’t your fault, especially in the winter. However, most of the time you can avoid this just by a little extra care once a month. Most people don’t bother, and that’s why things such as rescue and breakdown coverage provided by car insurance companies comes in very handy.
There are several different kinds of coverages that can come in here. Roadside assistance is one of the best, because it saves you hundreds of possible dollars in the costs of towing and other things. It can come in handy when you’re stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a broken down car and have no one to pick you up. You can just call and bring a tow truck, and show them your car insurance card. The types of roadside assistance vary. Some go by the person, but most go by the car that is being insured in the first place, so you will be covered for roadside breakdown and a tow to a repair shop regardless of who is driving the car.
Some car insurance companies even offer breakdown coverage that will take care of you if your car breaks down right there in your driveway. You can even get a combination of the two.
One of the most important things to have to accompany your roadside assistance coverage is car rental reimbursement. This is a great investment, because if your car breaks down or you get into a car accident, that won’t change the fact that you need transportation. If carpooling isn’t a possibility for you, then you’ll want to pay the few extra dollars a month in order to be paid back if you should have to rent a car while you’re out of your own one. The amount that you will pay for this type of coverage in an entire year is usually less than even a day’s worth of paying for a rental car.
Some companies offer extended coverage for breakdowns, such as GEICO. GEICO’s mechanical breakdown insurance is a lot like a warranty, and is a great option for drivers who still need coverage once their warranty is out. Like warranties, it does not provide coverage for things such as wear and tear, and you can’t expect to get reimbursed for something if you don’t maintain your car and the breakdown is a result of wear and tear. All you have to pay for any other breakdowns is the $250 deductible, and the rest belongs to GEICO.
It is often a better option than an extended warranty from your dealer, because, for one, it is much cheaper than you will be charged for. Also, at a dealer they usually tell you what parts you can get repaired, whereas GEICO does not restrict this. And anytime you need, you can take your car in to get repaired so long as it falls under the requirements. Even if you’ve already bought one, you usually still have one to two months during which you can refund it and get something else.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
If I Get A Speeding Ticket Will My Car Insurance Rate Go Up?
Reader question:
If I get a speeding ticket, will my car insurance rates go up?
Andy
Usually.
It all depends on who you are and what car insurance company you are with. Typically, a speeding ticket is one of the big factors in the rise of your car insurance rates. It is evidence that you are an irresponsible driver and puts you into a high risk pool of people being insured. One speeding ticket might not be the end of your car insurance history, but it does usually have a big impact, although not nearly as much as getting into a car accident. Car insurance companies want to nip speeders in the bud, though, considering that speeding is more likely to get you in a car accident to begin with. If your rate goes up too much, though, you can get free auto insurance quotes and see what other companies are like.
However, it isn’t necessarily true that you will see an increase in your premium. If you have been a long time customer with your car insurance company, they might want to give it a little bit of thought before giving you reason to leave them be. If you have a good driving record from the past and the speeding ticket is a one time thing that is in no way normal to your driving experience, it is very possible that you will see little to no effect from your speeding ticket on your premium.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
No Fault Auto Insurance Quote In NJ – Free New Jersey Auto Insurance Quotes
Reader question:
I live in New Jersey and we have no fault auto insurance laws. What’s the difference between no fault and tort laws?
Hunter
Good question.
No fault laws are designed to lessen the costs upon the insurance companies and to make the whole process easier by putting the onus of the medical expenses for anybody involved in a car accident, no matter who is to blame, on the shoulders of their own car insurance company. This has resulted in a decrease in car insurance prices in most no fault insurance states. However, many experts say that this won’t last for long. No fault insurance is more likely than other types of insurance to foster insurance fraud, and New York is a great example of this.
If you live in a state with no fault insurance, you cannot sue the other party in an accident for damages and pain, or, well, anything else. You can only do that with tort laws. The idea is that the insurance company should cover everything, and that all the lawsuits are expensive and clogging up the court system. Tort laws are also kind of like at fault laws, where the one who caused the accident ends up paying out more of the money, or their insurance company does.
Some states allow you to choose one or the other. You can get no fault, and have cheaper premiums; or you can get tort, have higher premiums but still have the option to sue. Still, in some states there is a middle of the way option that involves being able to sue up to a certain threshold and getting slightly lower premiums. If you are in New Jersey, get an auto free insurance NJ quote to find out which is the best for you.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Will My Car Insurance Company Pay If I Get Sued After a Car Accident?
Reader question:
If I have car insurance, then I can’t get sued, right?
Rupert
Wrong.
Unfortunately, the possession of an auto insurance policy does not keep you from getting sued in the event of an accident. There are some states where you cannot be sued, and these are called no fault states. In those states, suing is prohibited for car accidents regardless of who is at fault. Most states, however, are tort law states, and some even have a mixture of no fault and tort law, so depending where you live the answer to this question could be different.
On the bright side, if you do get sued you aren’t exactly just left in the lurch. Having car insurance, you will be provided with the money and resources from your policy to help you defend yourself against the lawsuit, so it is definitely advisable to be insured on your auto for that protection and much, much more. Always get a free auto insurance quote so you can find out which car insurance company offers you the best help for the best price.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Are Car Insurance Rates Falling? Should I Wait to Switch Insurance Carriers?
Reader question:
Are auto insurance rates falling in the U.S.?
Albert
They sure are.
It’s some of the best news to come out of the insurance business, and after so many years in which the rates have steadily gone up, they are finally beginning to go down. Not by too much, but in gradual amounts that are still reassuring and do make a difference. The very first drop in rates was by .3% nine years ago, and since then it has been growing. For this year, the expectation for reductions is somewhere around 3%. Again, it is going slow but the good thing is that it is going at all.
California has had some of the best results, with a 5.7% drop in insurance rates in the last year. This wasn’t the first year for rates in California to fall, but it was definitely the most successful. Other states where car insurance rates tend to be the highest, such as New Jersey, are also seeing good things happening. New Jersey alone will see a 15% decrease thanks to new state laws.
There are a lot of reasons that one might consider to be affecting the decrease of car insurance rates. One of the main ones is that there are now more people who are older than there are who are younger. The highest car insurance rates tend to belong to those under twenty five, and there are just fewer people of that age nowadays.
Another reasons is because cars are safer now. Every year a new kind of safety feature is added to the automobile market, and with things such as traction control, run flat tires, and all wheel drive, getting into a car accident these days seems like it takes a concentrated effort. Not only that, but car insurance companies provide incentives for people to buy safer cars with their discounts.
There are now more car insurance companies on the market as well, which means that the prices are going to fall due to there being more competition out there. Car insurance companies are falling all over themselves trying to come up with new discounts and innovative practices and advertising techniques to call customers. This mostly comes with companies that are now doing the bulk of their advertising through the internet, which is much cheaper and reaches customers just as well;if not better than traditional advertising schemes.
Another big factor has to do with more policing of drunk driving. Drunk driving laws are now much harder than they were before, creating larger disincentive. And the fewer drunk drivers, the lower car insurance prices.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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