Should I ever admit to my insurance company that an accident was my fault?
Yes. You want to be 100% honest with your insurance company. Their job is to defend you against any other claim that might exist. I will tell you this. The only thing that I will warn you about is you don’t want to minimize your injuries when you are talking to an insurance company and secondly, your job is to tell them the facts. Let them determine who is at fault for the wreck. Let the lawyers and adjusters determine who is at fault. You just have to inform them of the facts.
What is a third party insurance claim?
A third party insurance claim means you are making a claim against an insurance policy where you are not the named insurer, you haven’t bought the insurance. In contrast, a first party insurance claim would mean that you are making a claim against the policy that you bought. So your own car insurance is first-party insurance. It’s what is responsible usually for no-fault insurance, uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage. The third-party claim is actually the liability claim against another driver who obviously you would have no connection with normally and they are defending him against your claim because you are claiming he was negligent and caused your damages.
Uninsured Motorist
An individual who has been injured in an automobile accident may be able to seek monetary compensation for injuries and damages. Damages from a car wreck may include:
- Medical treatment, both initial and long term
- Vehicle and property damages
- Lost wages and lost future earnings
- Pain and suffering as a result of the accident and treatment
- The loss of enjoyment of life
- The loss of a loved one
The driver was Uninsured or the Insurance Company says there is only $25,000
The laws of Kentucky and Indiana only require that a person have $25,000 per person in insurance coverage. In other words, there is nothing in the motor vehicle law for Kentucky or Indiana that guarantees the at-fault driver can pay your personal injury claim or even your medical bills. So yes, a drunk driver can lawfully drive around with only $25,000 in insurance coverage but cause his injured victims to sustain $30,000 in medical expenses. While a drunk driver would be prosecuted, through criminal law, for driving under the influence, criminal law involves imposing fines and prison time as punishment. Getting the compensation you deserve is next to impossible without an uninsured motorist accident attorney by your side.
Underinsured Motorist
Why should you maximize the underinsured motorist benefits on your auto insurance policy? We have all heard the TV commercials wherein SAFE AUTO INSURANCE COMPANY advertises minimum insurance coverage for minimum budgets. However, do you really understand what this means? Let me translate this for you into “Desmond-ease”, THE AT-FAULT DRIVER HAS MINIMUM MEANS TO PAY FOR YOUR DAMAGES!
Personal Injury Claims – The Value, Settlement and Lawsuit
The first question, “Why did the personal injury claim not settle on a pre-litigation basis?” Generally, most injury claims have a chance at being resolved on a pre-litigation basis. In essence, this means that all your injuries, medical bills and medical records were presented to the insurance carrier for the at-fault vehicle with a settlement demand. Since litigation is expensive and insurance companies deal with hundreds of new claims on a daily basis, both the plaintiff’s attorney and the insurance company have an incentive to try and resolve your personal injury claim if possible through this pre-litigation process. As a result, when I hear that an injury claim did not during the pre-litigaton process, we need to know the facts in regard to why the claim was not settled.