4 Things to Consider Before You Settle
Part 3 of 4: Car Insurance Coverage
If you have been badly hurt in a car wreck, you need to find all of the money that is out there to help you. The liability car insurance coverage on the at-fault vehicle is only one policy that might apply. There may be coverage on your own vehicle and on other vehicles that were not part of the car accident. It is important that you don’t release any parties or waive any rights to coverage until you know where all the coverage is.
If you’ve been hurt badly, it is possible that the insurance on the car that caused the collision is not going to be enough to get you back on your feet: to cover your medical bills, to cover your wage loss, to compensate you for your pain and suffering, but it is possible that there is other insurance out there that will help make you whole.
It’s not always obvious where to find that. I practice in Kentucky and Tennessee, and I can tell you it’s not obvious to people where to look for other coverage, and I think if they’re unrepresented they sometimes miss it. There can be coverage on cars that are not even involved in the accident, depending on how your policy is written, and you need to look at that before you agree to settle. There could be parties who are responsible for this accident who aren’t there.
For example, if the person who hit you is driving for his employer, we might be looking at the insurance company for that business. This brings me back to my last point, which is if you’re just dealing with the liability adjuster and trying to get a claim settled, he is not going to be able to advise you about other car insurance coverages that are out there. He’s certainly not going to tell you that the guy you have a claim against may have another policy that applies to this loss, or that his employer may have a policy that applies to this loss. Most importantly, he’s not going to tell you he’s not going to be able to advise you, that there are other steps you should take to preserve your other claims, because if you just release his insured, you may be giving up those other claims that you don’t even know you have.
It is not his job to protect you from that mistake. It’s my job.
If you would like to discuss your car insurance coverage after an accident, contact Crocker Law Firm today.
