If you know about car insurance, please help answer?

Chris

Calm down, it's ok. First of all, your liability coverage under bodily injury will cover this. You do not need a lawyer. Your insurance company will tell you if you do. You should not have to pay personally for anything. You neglected to mention where you live or your limits (which I guess is pretty personal) so I'll try to cover what I can.

If you only carry the state minimum limits (which are different in all states) that may not be enough to pay for his injury. It will depend on many factors such as how badly his leg was broken, his recovery, and whether he can claim his medical bills and lost wages against your BI or if he can only get pain and suffering.

In addition, if your coverage is not enough to compensate him, he most likely will then get the remainder from his UNDERINSURED motorist coverage if he has it. This is so different based on the state I'm not going to go into it. If he does that, his insurance will determine if they can try to get their money back from you (they don't usually).

If he doesn't have underinsured motorist coverage, and what your company is offering (if it's your limits) is not enough he'll have to determine if he wants to proceed against you personally. That's a big risk. First, your carrier won't release your $ from your policy without him signing a release agreeing not to sue you. Secondly, they owe you a defense attorney under your policy. However, that attorney only represents you within your policy limits, so if excess exposure existed beyond your limits, you'd need your own attorney. But before you panic and breathe into a paper bag, understand that your insurance will give you plenty of notice if this is an issue.

In reality, you should be fine. Unless his leg required surgery or was horribly permanently damaged, you should have enough. Just continue to check in with your company, and don't hit the panic button yet. It is very infrequent that low limits or a situation like this leads to an insured having to pay out of his own pocket. In the few cases I have seen in 16 years the insured was very gainfully employed and had considerable assets, which you do not.

Consider, if you can, raising your limits for both property damage and bodily injury to be as high as you can afford.

Cleveburgher

If you have full insurance, the other party (or their adjuster or attorney) will speak with your adjuster to settle the claim. You will have to pay the applicable deductible associated with your policy. Reps of the person who got injured will submit bills to your insurance company and they will work toward negotiating a settlement... This may take some time because they will try to wait to see if the person has any permanent effects from the injury. Other than paying the deductible, you won't need to be involved for the time being...the insurance companies will do the haggling...until it is determined whether the case can be settled.

The person who was injured has to settle or file suit within the Statute of Limitations (2 yrs. in most states). If that deadline passes and they have not settled or filed suit, they are barred legally from making further claim. If they sue, the insurance company will still take the lead. You may be deposed (interviewed by an attorney in front of a Court Reporter). The case can be settled at any time before a ruling of the Court. Most accident cases of this nature, don't get that far. Most settle out of Court unless the loss is catastrophic (ie. loss of life, paralyzation etc.)

For now, obtain a copy of the accident report for your records, pay the deductible and leave the rest to your insurance company. Good luck.

startwinkle05

I believe you may be responsible for paying a deductible, but that should be all, as the whole reason you HAVE insurance is so that you don't have to pay for his injuries out of your pocket! Call your agent and ask what is going to happen. Different insurance companies have different policies and it depends on YOUR policy.

bellytail

The Bodily Injury Liability portion of your insurance will pay for the other party's injuries.
The Property Damage Liability portion will pay to fix the other party's car.
Let's say your liabiliy limits are 15/30/10 (see your actual policy for your actual limits). Your policy will pay up to $15,000 per person for their injuries, and no more than $30,000 in injuries for the entire accident. And up to $10,000 to fix the other party's car. The only problem you would have is if the person's injuries are MORE than the coverage you have on your policy. If his hospital bills are $25,000 your policy will only pay the $15,000 for him (a single person). Then he will want to recoup the difference from you. This would be a problem.
"FULL COVERAGE" refers to a policy w/ Liability and Physical Damage Coverages (comprehensive and collision). You would have a deductible for each of the latter. You pay the deductible to get YOUR CAR fixed. The OTHER PARTY's car is covered by your property damage liability coverage (for which there is no deductible).
Hope this helps :D

CowboyBill

....what Chris said (as usual)

lisa j

WHO 'S FAULT WAS THE ACCIDENT? IF YOU HAVE FULL COVERAGE,THEN YOU ARE OK. THAT'S WHAT FULL COVERAGE IS FOR. AS LONG AS THERE ARE NO CRIMINAL CHARGES INVOLVED THEN YOU CAN BREATHE EASY. HOPE EVERYTHING WORKS OUT FOR YOU HUNNY.

mktobyjo

There's no deductibles you need to pay. Your policy will kick in for the other guy and pay for his hospital/medical bills.

However, if the med bills exceed the limits of your policy, they will look to YOU to pay the rest.

Also, your auto insurance rates will increase a bit after all this blows over. Probably not until you renew though.

PeppermintandPopcorn

Insurance pays for the other parties injuries and property damages, depending on your state. Check out your Declarations page and look for bodily injury/propert damage liabilitiy. Usuallys its x per person, x each accident and x for propert damage. That's the amount that your insurance will pay for the other party.

Now if the damages are more than what you have, the other party can take you to small claims court.

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