Auto Accident Personal Injury Insurance Advice

Statistically, serious personal injury is more likely to occur in a car accident than with any other form of transportation. This may include injury to yourself as a result of colliding with another motorist, injury to a passenger who is riding with you or injury as a result of hitting a non vehicle object such as a wall, road barrier or lamppost.

For this reason, having some kind of auto accident personal injury insurance is strongly recommended and most countries require you to have it by law.

Fortunately, if you are involved in a car crash then there is usually more than one source from which you can be compensated for lost wages, pain and suffering and medical bills.

For example, if you are involved in an auto accident then you may be able to make a personal injury claim and be covered by your health insurance and disability insurance coverage plans. This is usually the best option to go for first, as it will allow you to bridge the gap until your auto insurance claim is settled as discussed in the following video.

In addition to your own insurance cover, you may also be covered by the personal liability coverage of the other driver involved in the accident if they were to blame and are insured.

However, collecting insurance money from another person is rarely a straight forward procedure and one that is usually drawn out over months or even years. Therefore, if you are relying upon receiving compensation from another person, you need to be sure that you can support yourself financially until you are awarded your settlement claim.

A third form of coverage for personal injury as a result of an automobile accident comes from your car insurance. Generally, you will have two types of coverage in a personal auto policy for any injuries that you suffer, these are:

1) Compensatory Damages

The first type of personal injury cover you will receive from your car insurance policy is coverage for compensatory damages.

These are the value of any injuries that you have suffered, including pain and suffering, as determined by a court. This also includes injuries caused by uninsured or under-insured motorists.

So for example, if you are waiting at the traffic lights and someone collides into the back of your car and you suffer from whiplash causing you to experience pain in your neck and back, then the amount of money that you lose as a result of being in pain and unable to work will be used to calculate your claim payout by your insurer.

The idea is to compensate you for any losses you incur as a result of another persons actions, and can also include compensation for damage caused to property and your own emotional well-being should you need to see a psychologist for example.

2) Medical Expenses

The second type of personal injury cover you will receive from your car insurance is coverage for your medical bills, and depending on where you live, coverage for lost wages.

Generally, you will receive greater compensatory damages if you have receipts for any medical bills that you had to pay. For example, hospital fees, drug related fees, lab test fees and specialist fees such as for physiotherapy.

This proves to the court that those costs were involved, and they will usually reimburse those costs plus a little extra.

The Risk Of Uninsured Motorists

If you are involved in a motor vehicle crash and it was not your fault, then you are legally entitled to sue that driver to compensate you financially for the damages caused to you by their driving and their vehicle.

This compensation will come from the driver’s auto liability insurance coverage, and their policy will pay you up to the liability policy limit that they have purchased.

However, some drivers choose not to take out car insurance, and if you have an accident with such a driver, things can start to get a little bit complicated if you don’t have adequate coverage of your own.

There is also the possibility that the driver does have car insurance, but that their policy limit is less than the cost of your injury. So for example, if they have a low limit on their bodily injury coverage, then you could find yourself receiving little compensation for any injuries that you suffered.

Although you could try to get more money from that driver by taking them to court, this is a long, drawn out and expensive process. To make matters worse, if the driver is on a limited income, then you are unlikely to get much money from them anyway.

This is why it is vitally important that your car insurance policy offers you adequate limits to cover you against uninsured and under-insured motorists.

The two types of injury insurance work slightly differently, although the end result is the same, to cover your costs in the event of a car accident. We shall look at both of these briefly below.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage

With uninsured motorist coverage your insurance company will pay out the full amount for any claims that you make up to your policy limit. Anything above your limit, and you will have to pay for out of your own pocket.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage

With under-insured motorist coverage, money is first collected from the under-insured motorist up to their coverage limit, and then the rest of the claim is covered by your insurance.

The following video discusses the difference between uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in more detail.

Injury Compensation

If you are ever involved in a road traffic accident with another person, you may want to consider seeking the help of an injury compensation company.

These are companies which are designed to get you compensation for accidents which were not your fault. Many operate on a no-win-no-fee basis, so they might be worth looking into if you don’t have much money of your own to pursue full compensation.

Liability Limits

When taking out car insurance to protect yourself against personal injury claims, it is recommended that you buy the same uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage limits as you buy for your liability insurance limits.

This is to ensure that you are financially protected on the road no matter what happens to you, as you simply cannot predict whether or not another motorist has vehicle insurance or has enough of it.

In particular, if you are considering uninsured motorist coverage, where a person has no vehicle coverage whatsoever, it is first worth checking to see if the area in which you live has a high proportion of uninsured drivers. Some states, such as Texas, have a high percentage of uninsured drivers, around 20% of road users, and so insuring yourself against uninsured motorists should be strongly considered in such cases.

Insuring Yourself Against Medical Expenses

Most car insurance companies offer coverage to help you pay medical bills should you ever be involved in an automobile accident, and you may also be able to receive coverage for lost wages.

Medical coverages can come in two varieties:

• Medical payments coverage.

• Personal injury protection coverage.

Both of these forms of coverage are designed to pay out, up to the limit you have paid for, any medical expenses you incur as a result of a vehicular accident.

This can include expenses such as laboratory tests, x-rays, medical drugs, counselling, physiotherapy and doctor and hospital fees.

The main difference between these two insurance packages is that personal injury protection coverage will also cover you against lost wages. However, this comes at a much greater cost compared to medical payments coverage.

When taking out medical payments coverage with your car insurance there are three things that you should remember.

1) Check The Insurance Laws Where You Live

Laws of medical payments coverage or personal injury protection coverage can vary depending on where you live. It is best to know what the law allows or does not allow before you take out this type of insurance.

2) Buy The Minimum Amount Of Medical Coverage

Medical and disability costs should be covered principally by other insurance policies you have. So there is no point in spending extra money buying more coverage when you don’t need it.

3) Don’t Buy Insurance For Car Accidents Only

One rule that should be remembered when buying any type of insurance is to get a coverage plan that protects you from a wide variety of risks no matter where you are.

For example, there is no point in buying additional coverage for your medical bills and/or lost wages for car accidents only. You cannot predict where you will have an accident, and if you are only insured for accidents involving a car and you get injured elsewhere, then you will have to cover your medical bills/lost wages by yourself.

It is far better to get an insurance plan that provides medical coverage/coverage for lost wages anywhere, and not just in a car. Doing so will also help you to avoid coverage gaps by having multiple policies and enable you to save money in the process.